Members of the Western Regional House of Chiefs have been commended for ensuring that for the past year, there had not been any major chieftaincy disputes that could mar the peace of the area.
The Western Region has over the years been recording chieftaincy disputes which had been the greatest impediment to the development of the area.
The Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah who commended the chiefs, however, called on the traditional leaders to be vigilant and report anyone they suspect could foment trouble to the law enforcement agency, adding “If you see something, say something”.
Mr. Darko-Mensah who was addressing the Western Regional House of Chiefs appealed to them to sustain the relative peace the people in the region are enjoying.
Briefing the House on some of the major projects being undertaken by the current government in the region, he said about 1,959 kilometers (km) of roads in the area have been awarded on contract.
He said out of the number 212km are urban roads; 1,155km, feeder roads and 531km are highways.
“Unfortunately, not all the contractors are on site working. Some of them have been complaining about funding. But before the contractors were awarded the contracts they assured they had the money to execute the projects”, he stressed.
He said “There is something we call delayed interest and so it does not matter how long government will delay contractors’ payments, their due interests will be paid to them “.
He noted that the contractor for the construction of the deplorable Tarkwa-Nsuaem road would soon start the major works.
He explained that the works should have started long ago but because there were problems with the design and where the contractor could get certain materials for the project.
He told the chiefs that under the government’s agenda 111, about five health projects are currently ongoing in the region. He mentioned the construction of the Mpohor and Apowa district hospitals and the upgrading of the Effia-Nkwanta hospital into a teaching hospital.
He also mentioned the construction of Shama District hospital and a new Regional Hospital at Apemanim in the Ahanta West Municipality.
The Minister indicated that because of the upgrading of the Effia-Nkwanta hospital into a teaching hospital, plans are afoot to establish a Medical University in the region that will make use of the teaching hospital.
Mr. Darko-Mensah also informed the House that the government’s free Senior High School policy has helped increased students’ enrollment from 27,000 in 2017 to the current 63,631.
The Minister also pointed out that the University of Mines and Technology in Tarkwa currently run courses at the Railway University at Essikado and could establish campuses in some of the districts in the region.
The Chiefs
The Chiefs had earlier complained about the deplorable nature of the roads in Western Region and the fact that their people have been lambasting them for allegedly doing nothing about the situation.
Ewulae Angamatu-Egyan, Paramount chief of Bamiankor who spoke on behalf of the chiefs called on the government to establish another teacher training college and an additional university in the region.
“Now languages spoken by the people in the region are not being thought in schools. So we need some tertiary institutions in our region that will teach our children how to read and write our local dialects”, he stressed.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Sekondi