The youth during the press conference
THE Chief and people of Chiraa in the Sunyani West Municipality of the Bono Region have appealed to President Akufo-Addo and his government through the Bono Regional Coordinating Council to allow the district’s share of the 88 hospitals to be built across the country to be sited at Chiraa.
At a press conference yesterday at Chiraa Health Centre, the leaders of the town, under the auspices of Chiraa Youth Forum, said “the request is due to the community’s equidistance to the rest of the towns in the district.”
They said it was high time Chiraa benefitted from a decentralized department of government as promised during the creation of new districts.
The Chairman of the forum, Joseph Opoku Kyeremeh, who addressed the press conference, which was also attended by all assembly members from the area, the urban council chairman and Chiraa Development Committee, outlined numerous reasons why it was time for Chiraa to also benefit from a district hospital.
He said Chiraa is the second biggest town in the district apart from the district capital Odumase in terms of population and also the biggest contributor to the assembly’s revenue.
“In spite of the importance of the town and the meaningful contributions of its residents to the Sunyani West Municipality, Chiraa has none of the decentralized agencies or departments as has been the case for other towns in the municipality,” he added.
Mr. Kyeremeh pointed out that Chiraa Health Centre was already serving other catchment areas from Wenchi and Offinso in the Asante Region, Techiman in the Bono East Region and communities in Tano North, for which reason it deserves the status of a district hospital.
He bemoaned the situation where only Odumase and Nsoatre had been benefitting from government decentralized structures, saying “the Chiraa Traditional Council has already sent a petition to the Presidency on the issue; ours is just to plead with authorities in the region to consider our situation and give us our share of the national cake.”
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Chiraa
danielyaodayee@yahoo.com