Participants at the over patronised Town Hall Meeting
The maiden regional town hall meeting held in Ho, Volta Region capital has received a lot of commendations from residents and opinion leaders in the region.
Some residents told Daily Guide after the event that the town hall meeting showed that a lot more have been achieved under the Akufo-Addo led administration than perceived.
About a fortnight ago, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) issued a statement accusing the government for abandoning the Volta Region in many of its development projects.
According to the statement signed by Kafui Agbleze, the Volta Regional Communications Director of the NDC, most of government’s flagship programs, especially one district one factory was a political gimmick with nothing to show for, in the Volta Region.
However, hundreds of residents that thronged the 1,200-auditorium of the Ho Technical University for the Town Hall meeting were overwhelmed to realise that hundreds of projects have been ongoing in the region.
Speaking on the theme, “delivering on our policies; a focus on social Investments” Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told residents that the NPP government has touched many lives through its social intervention programmes and were in pursuit of enlarging the economy with emphasis on growth of the private sector.
The Minister said the free Senior High School programme, provision of over a hundred thousand jobs through the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), Planting for Food and Jobs among others have given hope to many.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Alex Kwadwo Abban said government has serviced over GH¢945 million of debts of the National Health Insurance Scheme, (NHIS) with only about GH¢200 million outstanding. He said more nurses and other health professionals are being employed by the government to bring affordable healthcare closer to the public.
The Deputy Education Minister, Yaw Osei Adutwum noted that gradually, the challenges that faced the Free SHS are being cleared, particularly the Double track system and urged all to avoid politicising the programme saying “education policy comes first before politics.”
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa commended the Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) for their hard work in improving the living standard in their respective areas but said more work has to be done.
He said the many projects exhibited by them were an indication that they were truly accountable to the people.
Present at the meeting were the Awormefia of the Anlo State, Togbui Sri III, President of the Regional House of Chiefs Nana Soglo Allo, the CEO of NABCO Mr. Anyars Ibrahim, the Deputy Minister for Gender, Freda Prempeh, Executives of the opposition NDC, students among other.
From Fred Duodu, (k.duodu@yahoo.com)