President Nana Akufo-Addo (middle) Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto (right) and Rockson Bukari, U E Regional Minister, at the Tamne Dam site
President Akufo-Addo has announced government’s intention to create two new districts and one municipality in the Upper East Region by the end of his four-year tenure.
He mentioned Tempane, which is currently under the Garu-Tempane District, as one of the proposed new districts.
The president was speaking at Tempane to round up his two-day visit to the Upper East Region.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the Tempane area has what it takes to become a district, but charged the chiefs and the people to ensure that “wicked and selfish” individuals do not use the district as a route for smuggling subsidized fertilizers meant for the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme.
The president has given his full backing to the on-going construction of the Tamne Multipurpose Dam, which was started under the last National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, assuring that his government would see to the completion of the project.
When completed, the Tamne Dam would be used to irrigate large acres of farm lands for all-year-round farming.
Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, commended the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) for supporting the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme and asked farmers who had benefitted from the bank’s loan scheme to buy fertilizers to be truthful to the bank by paying back the loans.
He also advised farmers who could not pay the full cost of the subsidized fertilizers to pay up the remaining portion of the cost when they harvest and sell their farm produce, so as to sustain the programme in the Garu-Tempane District.
“We have started planning for next year’s farming, and we want you from now till June; I mean more of you to register with your District Director. Once we get your name down, the crops you want to cultivate and the size of the farm, we will get people to take your picture and capture the boundaries of your farm with GPS and you are ready to join.”
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tempane and a Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, thanked President Akufo-Addo for selecting Tempane as one of the districts to be created in the region.
Mr Kpemka is the first MP on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party for the Tempane Constituency since it was created out of the then Garu-Tempane Constituency.
He called on the chiefs and opinion leaders in the area to mobilize their people to participate in the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme to improve their livelihoods.
From Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Tempane