Sheabutter extraction factories for Wa
Government is to establish sheabutter extraction factories in four communities in the Wa Municipality to empower women and also to make the sheanut industry a foreign exchange earner.
The communities are: Charia, Goli, Kpaguri and Kambali. In these communities women are already engaged in small scale production of the commodity.
It is expected that with the provision of the factories they would help to make the women more productive all-year-round, as well as encourage men to also go into the picking of the nuts, which for now has been women dominated.
Mr Yakubu Yahaya, Upper West Regional Propaganda Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) announced this at a press conference in Wa on Monday. The conference was to showcase the achievements of President John Atta Mills’ administration in the Region.
He said the NDC had within its 18 months of administration started to fulfill the promises it made to Ghanaians during last election campaign by investing in people, expanding infrastructure such as roads and transport, water and sanitation, and improving healthcare delivery.
Mr Yahaya said subsidies on education and agriculture has also been provided with increase cottage industries and communication services as well improvement in workers remuneration.
He said in all of these, the Upper West Region had not been left out as the government had cautiously and equitably distributing development projects without any discrimination.
Mr Yahaya appealed to people in the communities to have absolute faith in the NDC in order to also benefit from massive development.
“Let all and sundry assess the current government based on what it is doing and not on what its detractors say about its performance and style of administration”, Mr Yahaya said.
He said in the education sector, the Region had experienced massive infrastructure development in all the districts through support from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) and donor agencies. He mentioned the construction of eleven six-unit classroom blocks with ancillary facilities for the Wa West District.
The Wa Municipal Assembly, Mr Yahaya said, has also added another facelift to the Municipality through repair and construction of drains, slabs, kerbs, and gravelling of roads totaling 99 projects at a cost of GH¢2,705,887.
He said besides, an ultra modern Senior High School project was under construction at Charia to relocate the T.I. Amass Senior High School at Wa.
Two Senior High Schools projects were also ongoing at Funsi, in the Wa East District and Gwollu in the Sissala West District, which are among some of the districts without senior cycle school.
Mr Yahaya said through the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), five communities namely: Funsi, Charia, Busia, Kaleo and Babile had benefited from small town water project while 116 communities across the region were provided with 130 boreholes.
Approval had been given, he added, for the provision of 29 boreholes for the people in the Wa West and Sissala West Districts while the Saint Francis Girls Senior High School water system had been improved.
On the road sector, Mr Yahaya said, a total of 1,338.2 kilometres of highway and feeder roads in the region were reshaped and graveled during the early part of this year but expressed regret that because of torrential rains many of the roads had been destroyed.
The quantum of money through the RCC for development infrastructure and essential and non-consumables medicine amounted to GH¢44,224,990.69, Mr Yahaya said.
He, therefore, appealed to supporters and sympathizers of the NDC to fully support President Mills to deliver and also let the people know what the government had been able to do during the short time of its administration.
Source: GNA