Story: George Ernest Asare
THE Assembly Member for Atwima Koforidua Electoral Area in the Ashanti Region, Mr Stephen Amankwa, has commended the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Atwima, Mr Thomas Ofori Donkoh, for his prompt response to the sanitation problems that confronted Atwima Koforidua in recent times.
He said an appeal to the DCE to evacuate refuse that had piled up over the years in the central part of Atwima Koforidua yielded positive response as the DCE mobilised the requisite equipment and funds to evacuate the mountain of refuse without any cost to the community.
He said the gesture by Mr Ofori Donkoh went a long way to create a hygienic atmosphere in the community and reduce the spread of communicable diseases that threatened the residents.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic to express his profound appreciation to the DCE, Mr Amankwa pointed out that the refuse started piling up in the Atwima Koforidua community years back before he was elected as Assembly member a few years ago.
He explained that the dump, which was located close to residential areas, created health hazards for the residents because contaminated liquid materials from the dump flowed to nearby houses.
He said because of its neglect for a long time, multitudes of houseflies that settled on the contaminated materials at the dump easily flew to houses in the community and settled on food items, creating health problems for the residents.
Mr Amankwa said as a result of residents setting fire to the dump in the dry season, smoke also puffed out of the refuse to houses far and near, creating intense irritation to the eyes of residents and making breathing very difficult all day long, especially in the night.
According to the Assembly member, the stench from the dump also polluted the otherwise healthy atmosphere, creating serious health problems for residents and eventually undermining productivity.
He said it was the health hazards the refuse dump was creating that made him to approach the Atwima District Assembly to evacuate it, thereby controlling the spread of communicable diseases to enhance productivity.
He said with the sanitation problem now addressed through the support of the District Assembly, the community was focusing on educational development to build the capacity of the youth to enhance their market value.
He said their focus was on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and would therefore build a computer centre at the Atwima Koforidua Junior High School to enhance the training of the students in that area.
Mr Amankwa said already, a patriotic citizen from Atwima Koforidua, one Mr Asante, had donated three computers and accessories to the school and efforts were being made to solicit support from well endowed residents to donate more computers and accessories to enable them to begin the programme.
He therefore called on all residents of Atwima Koforidua at home and abroad to support the initiative and make the ICT programme a reality.
Mr Amankwa also expressed concern about the lack of accommodation for teachers at the Junior High School and said that undermined effective teaching and learning. He said efforts would therefore be made to construct bungalows for teachers to ease their accommodation problems to enable them to offer their best for the students to raise the standard of education in the community.
This, he said, would enable the students to develop their potential to the fullest to enable them to contribute more meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the country in the near future.
He therefore appealed to institutions, organisations, individuals and residents of the community to contribute generously to the project as soon it began.
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