President Akufo Addo in handsake with the Kwahu Tafo Chief
President Akufo-Addo has been praised by the chiefs in the Kwahu-Afram Plains North in the Eastern Region for travelling on deplorable roads to personally observe the road network in the area without using helicopter.
The Chief of Kwahu Tafo – Nana Kwasi Opoku Mintah – who spoke on behalf of the paramountcy when the President visited Donkorkrom on the final day of his three-day tour of the region, stated: “In the past, some presidents and governments came to visit Donkorkrom using helicopters, for which reason they could not appreciate the difficulties the people were going through in terms of their road network.”
He continued: “You (Akufo-Addo) have proven to be different, and we pray that your government will come to our aid and construct these roads, which have been in a deplorable state for many years.”
The Afram Plains area, which the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been winning both in the parliamentary and presidential elections since 1992, lacks hospitals, standard clinics and good road network.
The previous NDC administration, during its eight-year tenure, failed to construct a single road project in the area.
It promised to build a community day school for residents of Donkorkrom, but the project was abandoned in the bush before the party was voted out of power.
Due to the poor road network, former President John Mahama visited the area in the past using helicopter.
Nana Opoku Mintah said that past governments had deprived them of their share of the national cake.
He thanked President Akufo-Addo for using the road and appealed to him to come to their aid.
The Kwahu Chief also lauded the President for energizing the Ghanaian youth across the country with his free Senior High School (SHS) policy, adding that “this policy has given the Ghanaian youth the opportunity to have a bright future.”
The chief indicated: “Investing in education and in the future of our children involves a huge capital outlay. We know it will take some years before we can fully realise and appreciate the full benefits of free SHS. One day, Ghanaians will make reference to you – President Akufo-Addo – and the positive impact of free SHS on us. Posterity will be grateful to you.”
The Afram Plains Chief expressed surprise at the numerous infrastructural projects being undertaken in the constituency, chief among them being the 1,000 metric-ton warehouses in the Afram Plains North and South.
“I have seen it with my own eyes, and we are grateful. When you promise, you redeem that promise and we thank you,” he added.
Nana Kwasi Mintah appealed to President Akufo-Addo to construct a college of education in Afram Plains, which will help in the training and retention of teachers “to teach our own children.”
With the district being a major beneficiary of the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs,’programmes, the chief revealed that the production of cashew and onions has been boosted and requested for roads.
Roads
The Roads and Highways Minister, Amoako Atta, on behalf of the government, told the chiefs that President Akufo-Addo had added the Afram Plains link from Ekye-Amankrom to Donkorkrom to his priority projects.
He said contractors would soon go to the site to start work on the deplorable roads.
Afram Bridge
Touching on the Afram Volta Lake, President Akufo-Addo assured the chiefs that four contractors had shown interest in constructing the bridge, adding that the project would soon commence.
FROM Daniel Bampoe, Donkokrom