Adaklu Assembly – A white elephant
Some concerned people in the newly created Adaklu District in the Volta Region, on Monday lamented that the district has become a white elephant for want of a District Chief Executive (DCE).
The group said that as a result nothing was moving and that the area remained undeveloped and cited bad roads an example.
The Assembly last year failed to endorse Mr Maxwell Gbaka, an educationist, as the President’s nominee for DCE, when the Assembly voted 11-7 in favour of Mr Gbaka but with one vote short of the two-thirds required for his endorsement.
Until his death in December last year, the late Volta Regional Minister, Mr Henry Ford Kamel acted as DCE for the district.
Mr Jonathan Anku, a farmer at Adaklu Anfoe, told the Ghana News Agency that the hopes and aspirations of members of the group and the entire area have been shattered because of the stalemate.
He said the people of Adaklu expected the Assembly to create jobs and open up the area for development.
Mr Dey Charles, a student, said he was disheartened that several months after the inauguration of the Assembly, roads in the area had deteriorated, adding “It is very sad that though we have a grader and other machines, our roads are still bad. It is bad that we are still cut off from other districts”.
The GNA spotted a grader, sanitation trucks and other machines at the mercy of the weather at the Assembly’s premises.
Mr Ebeneze Azavor, an Operator of the grader, told the GNA that though roads in the District were bad, without a DCE nothing could be done about the situation.
Mr John Mishihu, an Executive Officer at the Assembly, said the absence of a DCE was making it difficult for the Assembly to acquire motorbikes and vehicles to help in mobilizing internally generated funds.
He said: “At the moment, we don’t even have a bicycle and the Assembly seems to have no direction. We are almost at a standstill. We need a DCE badly”.
Some staff at the Assembly who sought anonymity said the absence of a DCE was affecting the smooth administration of the district.
Mr Mensa Amegavi, an opinion leader in the district, said the situation has led to the collapse of some basic schools, which needed the support of the Assembly.
The Adaklu District was created out of the Adaklu-Anyigbe District following agitations by the people of Adaklu over the designation of Kpetoe as the District capital instead of Adaklu-Waya.
With the creation of the Adaklu District, what used to be the Adaklu-Anyigbe District has become the Agotime-Ziope District with the capital still at Kpetoe.
Source: GNA