Chiefs, elders appeal to Prez Akufo-Addo

About 29 chiefs and elders from the newly created Atwima-Nwabiagya North District have appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to use his good office to make Atwima-Akropong the capital of the new district.

At a well-attended press conference at Atwima-Akropong on Tuesday, the spokesperson for the chiefs, Nana Ataani Amankwa-Pam, who is the Akwamuhene of Atwima-Akropong, said Atwima-Akropong was the capital of Atwima-Nwabiagya during the colonial era.

He said when the Convention People's Party (CPP), led by President Kwame Nkrumah, took over the administration of the country, the capital was moved to Nkawie and the reason was that the people of Atwima-Akropong supported Baffour Akoto,  the then leader of the opposition National Liberation Movement (NLM).

Nana Amankwa Pam, flanked by Nana Osei Bonsu Bempah, the Akropong Nkosuohene; Nana Osei Tutu Amankwa, the Asakrakahene, and Nana Awua Asamoa, Atwima Owabihene, noted that Atwima-Akropong was centrally placed, compared to Barekese, which was even closer to the Offinso municipality.

 Furthermore, he said because Atwima-Akropong was the capital in the colonial era, all the necessary infrastructure was there.

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"How can we allow those resources to go waste and go and construct new ones, taking the country's economy, which is challenged, into consideration?" he asked.

He reminded the President that during the electioneering in 2016, he had promised the people of the area that when they voted for him to win power, the capital of the new district which he would create for the area would be at Atwima-Akropong.

He said the people were, therefore, at a loss as to how some people, for reasons best known to them, had decided to site the capital at Barekese.

Pictorial representation

 Nana Bempah used pictorial presentation to showcase some of the infrastructure at Atwima-Akropong to the audience.

They include a district magistrate court, some old buildings which served as residential accommodation for the old Atwima Nwabiagya District Council and bungalows left by the then Karssajian Construction Company, one of which, he said, was occupied by the district magistrate.

Besides, he showed a well-patronised market to help mobilise resources to generate internally generated funds (IGFs) for the assembly, a police station, the Osei Tutu Senior High School as well as private schools.

Others are a library, good drinking water and also a good sewerage system, play grounds, good roads, well planned streets and street lights and the Owabi Water Works.

Demonstration

On Thursday, November 9, 2017, Atwima-Akropong was thrown into what could be termed "mourning" when the people, wearing black, paraded through the principal streets in demonstration against the alleged selection of Barekese as the capital of the newly created Atwima-Nwabiagya North District.

The demonstration was precipitated by news on the airwaves in Kumasi that the Assembly Member for the Barekese Electoral Area, Ms Diana Koomson, had thanked the government for selecting Barekese as the capital of the newly created Atwima-Nwabiagya North District.