info@businessghana.com
Participants in a forum at Twifo-Hemang in the Central Region have called for the equitable distribution of national resources to help alleviate the plight of rural communities.
They observed that there was a tilt in the distribution of the resources and development projects in favour of the cities, which is worsening the plight of rural dwellers.
The participants noted, for instance, that many farmers were becoming poorer as their produce was stuck on farms due to the deplorable conditions of roads in the communities.
They made the call in a town hall meeting organised by the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, through the Information Service Department (ISD) and the Twifo-Hemang Lower Denkyira District Assembly to explain government initiatives which include the Planting for Food and Jobs, Free Senior High School and the One-district, One-factory (1D1F).
The participants said it was important for the government to ensure that rural and farming communities had access to markets for their goods.
Mr Samuel Addy from Nyamebekyere in the district assembly said the deplorable state of roads in the communities and surrounding ones needed immediate attention from the government.
“We are being asked to farm and to expand our farms. When we produce, how do we get the produce to the market centres with the poor state of our roads?” he queried.
They also urged government departments and agencies not to politicise government policies and initiatives.
Other participants called on the government to fast-track the implementation of the 1D1F policy to reduce the level of unemployment in the communities.
Some of the participants also called for the equipping of community senior high schools to make them more attractive.
They observed that while some elite senior high schools were continuously being resourced, many community senior high schools which served the rural communities remained under-resourced, making them unattractive to the residents.
An opinion leader, Mr Kojo Tenkorang, stated that “the Heman SHS does not have a vehicle. Not even one vehicle, while some other elite schools that have vehicles are getting one or two more.”
The Central regional information officer said the government’s initiatives would ensure that every Ghanaian everywhere was not left behind in the nation’s development agenda.
He urged all to cooperate with implementing agencies to ensure they benefited from those policies.
An officer with the ISD, Mr Charles Nkrumah said the Central Region was expected to have 35 projects under the 1D1F policy, saying it was to ensure that imports were significantly reduced, rural-urban drift was mitigated and rural economies boosted.
