Stakeholders deliberate on how to reduce poverty

Stakeholders in the Central Region last Monday spent hours deliberating on how to reduce the level of poverty in the region to accelerate its socio-economic development.

The Central Regional Minister, Mr Kwamena Duncan, observed that the region, with its tourism, education and investment potential was not commensurate to its current development.

The breakfast meeting, called at the instance of the Central Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), brought together chiefs, academicians and technical experts from all the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in the region to deliberate and find workable solutions to the retarded pace of socio-economic development in the region.

Top on the agenda were the deteriorating levels of education, the worsening sanitation situation and the lack of employable opportunities for the region’s teeming jobless youth.

Mr Duncan called on all stakeholders and departmental heads in the region to work towards its development, saying the Central Region, with its status as the first capital of the country, could not remain so poor.

Effective supervision

Mr Duncan charged them to work harder and adopt more effective supervisory roles in their departments to move the communities and the region's development forward, adding that they must be focused as they discharged their duties creditably.

"It is our business; whether you hail from the region or not, you must see to the growth and development of the region,” he said.

Mr Duncan said stakeholders should note that development started with people at the grassroot and once measures were taken to develop the regions, the people at the national level would assist to make it a success.

Speaking on sanitation, he called on districts to develop sanitation action strategy plans that would create an enabling environment for development.

He said schools should practise waste circulation and have access to septic tanks and waste bins while underscoring the need for hospitals to have incineration plants and placenta pits.

On education, he noted that there would be a regional education forum to address the challenges facing education in the region.

He added that there would be an education endowment fund to train teachers from the training colleges so they could build on their skills and help in raising the standard of education in the region.

MMDCEs must act

The Head of the Local Government Service, Dr Nana Ato Arthur, said the region was performing poorly considering some development indicators and asked the metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCES) to  step up efforts at enhancing the wellbeing of their people.

He said the Metropolitan and Municipal District Assembly (MMDAs) had a crucial role to play in making the lives of the people in the communities better.

He added that no excuses would be accepted if the MMDAs failed to galvanise the human and material resources in their communities for accelerated development.

Education committee

The Chairman of the Central Regional Education Committee, Mr Bless Kwame Darkey, said the RCC would soon organise a regional education stakeholders’ forum to extensively deliberate on the issue to draw a four-year road map to help improve education and safeguard the future of the region.

 He said a regional education trust fund would be established to address challenges facing the education sector such as inadequate teacher motivation and incentive packages to enhance academic performance.

He indicated that the fund would also provide scholarships and other assistance to brilliant, needy students and also provide in-service training for teachers and circuit supervisors.

The forum called for improved supervision in the basic schools to improve quality at the basic level of education in the region and enable the pupils to gain access to the prestigious senior high schools in the region.

The Paramount Chief of Asebu, Okatakyie Dr Amenfi VII, called on chiefs to support the government’s efforts at ensuring development in the communities.