Support Mepe schoolchildren with commuter bus — Paramount Queen
The Paramount Queen of Mepe in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region, Mamaga Adzo Sreku IV, has called on the Volta River Authority (VRA) to provide a commuter bus for children in the new resettlement camps to enable them to go to school and return home without stress.
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She said such a corporate responsibility by the VRA would help largely to heal the children of the trauma which afflicted them as a result of the floods caused by the spillage from the Akosombo Dam late last year.
Welcoming the United States Ambassador, Virginia Palmer, and a delegation from the US Embassy to Agbetikpo last week Thursday, Mamaga Sreku said children from the two resettlement camps at Mepe-Degorme walked to school in the main town of Mepe, which is about two kilometres away from the camps, and walked back to the camps after classes.
That situation, she indicated, left the children extremely exhausted which was unfortunately discouraging some of them from going to school now.
Visit
The US Ambassador visited the local DA Basic School camp and presented a consignment of learning materials to the children.
Her visit coincided with a visit to the same venue by the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.
Ms Palmer said education was an essential human right and a key driver of peace and development.
It was, therefore, the right time for her to come to the area and see at first-hand the commitment of stakeholders to the education of the children after the unfortunate incident, she explained.
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Inconvenience
Mamaga Sreku said there were about 180 basic schoolchildren at the two resettlement camps and the traditional authorities had found out that at least 20 children, mostly those in kindergarten, were not going to school because of the long walking distance between the camps and their schools.
She said the floods had robbed the people of their livelihoods which invariably were farming, fishing, and oyster picking from the river which had now become muddy with massive weeds on the river bed.
ECG bills
The Mepe Paramount queen also implored the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to look into the possibility of sparing the people of Mepe and nearby communities the agony of paying electricity bills for some time, until they regained their livelihoods again.
“Now, the ECG is sharing bills to the people who are now left with no source of income, and that is not fair,” Mamaga Sreku said.
She noted that for several decades, the people of the area had not been compensated for the havoc wreaked on them from the construction of the Akosombo Dam, stressing that “ now, more than ever, the people genuinely need a relief from the payment of power bills for a while to enable them to recover from the hardships they were going through and get set for a new livelihood.”
More schools
Meanwhile, the minister of education has given an assurance that there were plans to build schools at every resettlement camp in areas affected by the floods as soon as possible.
“This is because we attach great importance to the education of our children,” he added.