Dr Morris Hammah, the Administrator of the Minerals Development Fund (MDF) has praised the Ellembelle District Assembly in the Western Region for being able to build not less than eight schools with its share of the MDF.
The schools consist of six 5-unit classroom blocks with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities and two, 2-unit kindergarten KG blocks.
The Mineral Development Fund Act, 2016 (Act 912) aims to prioritise financial resources for the direct benefit of mining communities by setting aside a proportion of royalties for local development projects specifically in mining host communities.
Dr Morris Hammah recently paid a visit to the Ellembelle District to inspect projects that have been done with the Minerals Development Fund.
He explained that Act (912) of the MDF indicates that 20 percent of the fund should be given to the host mining communities for development projects.
“When we came to Ellembelle district, we have realized that so many educational projects have been done with its share of the fund to help improve on standard of education in the area”
“I will congratulate the people of Ellembelle for the good work done. We are very impressed with what the District Chief Executive, Kwesi Bonzoh has been able to do with the fund”, he said.
For his part, the Ellembelle District Chief Executive, Kwasi Bonzoh explained that the assembly embarked on the educational projects because education is one major factor that brings development to a country and also a tool for eliminating poverty.
“So we have been able to put up eight (8) well-furnished educational projects with ICT laboratories from the minerals development fund with the help of the local management committee to benefit the whole communities”, he noted.
He advised the community members to take good care of the projects and see them as their personal property adding “I urge the communities to adopt the habit of maintenance so that even our unborn babies will come and benefit from these projects”.
“I will also take this opportunity to advise our young ladies to desist from premarital to avoid teenage pregnancy but rather focus on their education”, he added.
He cautioned that impregnating someone who is below18 years is defilement which is a criminal offence and stressed that anyone who would impregnate a girl below 18years will be arrested and dealt with according to the law.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Ellembelle