Gerald Atuogya
The Kassena-Nankana West District in the Upper East Region now has a substantive District Chief Executive (DCE), Gerald Atuogya, after over 90 percent ‘YES’ votes in his favour were cast at his confirmation ceremony in Paga, the district’s capital.
In all, 57 delegates out of 68 voted ‘YES’ to give a one-round confirmation of the new DCE, which was formerly headed by a ‘caretaker’ DCE from the Kassena-Nankana Municipality.
Mr. Atuogya is replacing the late Clement Kuyianyim Dandori who passed away while in office on Friday, February 9, 2018.
The new DCE called on all assembly members to unite irrespective of their political or zonal background so as to enhance effective development of their district.
He said the distribution of inputs under the ‘planting for food and jobs’ is one area that needs to be monitored by all assembly members to help curb smuggling of the subsidised fertilizers from the district to neighbouring countries.
Mr. Atuogya also urged assembly members to spread the good news of the benefits of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) and other policies which are being implemented by the NPP government.
In his view, these policies and others are meant to empower the people of the district to be independent and be able to contribute to the development of the families and communities, hence the need for all to embrace.
“Once people are doing well on their farms and there is ready market for their produce, they will stay here and work. Once senior high school remains free, many more young people further their education after the junior high school level. These are good things we must embrace to end the frequent migration of our youth to the southern part of the country in search of jobs that do not exist,” he stated.
Mr. Atuogya warned all resident in his district to desist from burning bushes in the area, stressing that the vegetation of the district is under threat “and if care is not taken the remaining green vegetation will also vanish and the district will have no green vegetation for its future generation.”
Meanwhile, the Bolgatanga East District Assembly has also unanimously confirmed the president’s nominee for the position of the DCE, Prof. Emmanuel Abugre Abole, at a ceremony in Zuarungu.
All 14 assembly members voted ‘YES’ for the former University of Cape Coast (UCC) lecturer to make him the first DCE for the newly-created district.
He has sent a signal that the assembly would place more emphasis on education at all levels in the area to ensure that quality human resources are produced for the district in order to speed up its development.
FROM Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Paga