TANO SOUTH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY HOLDS THIRD ORDINARY MEETING OF THE FOURTH SESSION

The third ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the Tano South District Assembly which is the last meeting for the years 2014 has been held at Bechem the District Capital.

  

Dignitaries and a section of Assembly Members at the meeting

The Presiding Member of the Assembly Hon. Anthony Opoku in a welcome address expressed his greatest pleasure to welcome members to this very important meeting.  He recalled that nearly four years ago, on the 15^th March, 2011 they were sworn into office as a house to foster the growth and development of the district and todays meeting which is the last to their tenure in office and the renewal of the mandates in the subsequent months of those who would seek re-election from their constituents.

                            

Hon. Anthony Opoku addressing the gathering

Hon. Opoku said despite the few setbacks and anxious moments in their quest to develop, they have collectively discharged their duties through the help of Almighty God with the support and participation of all of them and indeed they all deserve to be commended.  He said the year 2014 had been a blessing to the Tano South District since no much major unpleasant incidents was experienced and again the district was placed first (1^st ) in the league of the 216 Metropolitan,  Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA’S) conducted by the centre for Democratic Development and the International Children Emergency Fund (UNICE) with the District also hosting the 2014 Brong Ahafor Regional Farmers’ Day Celebration and also a son of the District receiving the National Best Farmer Award.

Hon. Opoku said all these successes have been as a result of the able leadership of their District Chief Executive, Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba coupled with their collective support to him.

Touching on the 2015 General Assembly Elections, Hon. Opoku said, the District Electoral Commission has opened the filing of Nomination for the up-coming District Assembly Election and urged all Hon. Assembly Members who wish to seek re-election to pick their nomination forms in time so that they can process to meet the deadline for submission and appealed to all those who would seek re-election to conduct their campaigns in an atmosphere of decorum and civility.

Hon. Opoku informed the house that a number of cases were brought before the public relations and complaint committee of the Assembly and was glad to inform Hon. Members that the committee was able to live up to expectation by finding amicable solutions to all the cases brought to the committee.

Hon. Opoku informed the house that it was sad to note that during their tenure they lost a colleague, Hon. Dapaah Amoako an Assembly Members for the Ohianimguase/Mansopa Electoral Area who has since been buried. He said, in discharging their duties they might have wronged each other as human beings and called on them to let us forgive each other for even the tongue and the teeth that are found together do not quarrel but settle issues amicably.

 Hon. Opoku said the Assembly has come far in terms of development even though a lot still needs to be done, our achievement as an Assembly would not have been possible without the support of all and wished to use this opportunity to thank all Heads of Departments, Staff of the Assembly, Nananom, Hon. Assembly Members, District Chief Executive as well as the Hon. Member of Parliament for their collaborative hard work and hoped that the next General Assembly to be elected would improve upon what they have done and wished all and sundry merry charismas.

Addressing the session, the Tano South District Chief Executive Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba welcomed all to the meeting which he said, but for circumstances beyond the control of management should have been held some time back and said he was highly privileged to address yet another session of the august house.

Hon. Anaba said he was encouraged with the massive turn out not withstanding the series of postponements and short notice of invitation and said we are here today as mouthpiece and development agents of our people to dispassionately deliberate on the possible ways to bringing development, better living conditions and above all sense of belonging to our electorates and used the opportunity to congratulate all Hon. Assembly Members for their successful completion of a four (4) year mandate.

                             

The Tano South DCE reading his sessional address

Hon. Anaba on Revenue Mobilization said, it was very important for him at this stage to present an overview of the Assembly in terms of revenue performance.  He said the Assembly has rolled up a lot of strategies with the help of Honorable Members to improve Revenue mobilization since revenue is very critical for the advancement of every organizatin and said when these strategies are aggressively pursued, the Assembly would see a major improvement in revenue.

Hon. Anaba informed the house that (GH¢ 67,528.30) had been achieved out of the quarterly budget of (GH¢60,077.25) representing an increase of 12.40% of the quarterly budget which he said was very significant but  noted that with the measures in place, there would be more improvement in future.

Hon. Anaba informed the house that, the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th quarters of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) are yet to be received but the 1^st quarter has been received and disbursed to the Assembly’s Creditors in respect of projects and programmes and said an amount of GH¢158,894.00 in respect of the Ghana School Feeding Programme as at September, 2014 have been disbursed to caterers for 77 days of feeding 3,716 school children in 12 schools district wide.

Touching on security,Hon.  Anaba said, except for a disturbing case involving four (4) siblings who were mysteriously found dead in an unused deep freezer in their compound whose bodies have since been buried and investigations still on-going to ascertain the actual cause of death, the district has remained relatively calm.

Hon. Anaba said the Assembly has embarked on the reshaping of roads in the district not only to make the roads accessible but also to ensure improved security situation in the communities.

 The National Sanitation Day, Hon. Anaba  said was instituted to deal with the embarrassingly poor sanitation in the country and was to be held simultaneously nationwide from 6:00 am – 9:00 every first  Saturday of the month, however communities could organize the Sanitation Day either before or after the first Saturday of the month depending on the circumstances at the time of the exercise and was happy to inform the house that the Tano South District organized a Sanitation Day for the month on Saturday, 13^th December, 2014 which was  well attended by most stakeholders and commended all. He used the opportunity to appeal to all and sundry especially Nananom and Hon. Assembly Members to play a lead role to ensure the sanitation day is always observed to improve sanitation in the district.

The District Chief Executive informed the house that the 1^st phase of the street Naming and Property Addressing System was completed and commissioned on Friday, 26^th September, 2014 and the District has since become one of the Districts that were able to meet the 18 months deadline given by the President.

 Hon. Anaaba said he was sad the District was hit with 37 cholera cases out of which 2 deaths were recorded.  He however said the District Epidemic Management Committee, the District Assembly and the District Health Directorate have worked relentlessly to bring the situation under control and pleaded with Honorable Members to use all available means possible to educate their electorates to keep their surroundings clean and maintain good personal hygiene.

 Hon. Anaba said, Education is one of the foundational stones of our socio-economic transformation as a country and whilst providing infrastructure to most of our school we need to embark on a massive campaign to check on the continuous falling performance of our children especially at the basic level.

Hon. Anaba said in the last Basic School Certificate Examination conducted in the district, it was realized that twenty five (25) girls who took part in the exams were pregnant and said this and many other problems affect the education of the youth hence the need to finding ways to curb the problem.

He inform the house  that the District Assembly is currently implementing Adolescents Reproductive Health Programme (ARHP)  sponsored by Future Group a non-governmental organization based   in the UK which is aimed at ensuring that adolescents are properly sensitized on the negative implications of pre-marital sex and encourage them to concentrate on education since that is the only way they can be assured of a better future and also informed the house that the community senior high school which is being constricted at Derma by Messrs SGL Investment Ltd has seen the first floor casted and the second floor progressing steadily.

Hon. Anaba  used the occasion to thank all those who in one way or the other helped or whose participation made the celebration of the Regional Farmers’ Day  hosted by the Tano South District at Derma successful and also informed the house that as part of measures to ensure safe drinking water and improvement of sanitation in the district, a number of water projects were started by the Hon. Member of Parliament ,Friends of the Earth and International Development Association (IDA) and are at various levels of completion.

Hon. Anaba said the Tano South District has been added to the Districts which are to benefit from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programe  (LEAP) which is a cash transfer programmed aimed at assisting the poorest households such as orphans, elderly and severely disabled people to improve their basic needs and said a 12 member District Implementation Committee has been formed awaiting guidelines to  commence work on the programme.

Hon. Anaba informed the house that the Tano South District came first in the centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana and the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) instituted  216 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies league and was happy to inform them that the Tano South District was adjudged the best in term of development projects and well being of the people which meant the good work of all the  stakeholders  have been recognized even beyond the boundries of the district. This he said  has placed a responsibility on all of us to now work even harder to maintain our position.

Hon. Anaba appealed to Honorable Members to discuss the recommendations of the Executive Committee Meeting dispassionately and approve for the sake of the development of the District and expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the hard working Hon. Assembly Members, Hon. Member of Parliament, Heads of Departments and Nananom for their continuous support for the Development of the District and wished Honorable Members who would  want to seek re-election the very best of luck and hoped to meet them here again after the District Assembly Elections scheduled for Tuesday, 13^th March, 2015.

The Presiding Member of the Assembly Hon. Anthony Opoku congratulated the Honorable District Chief Executive for his sessional Address and called the house to order for the business of the day which included the discussion and approval of fee Fixing Resolution for 2015 and the discussion and approval of 2015 composite Budget Estimates to begin.

                                  

Nana Ampong Kromantang the Krontihene of Techimantia seated left

Present at the meeting was Nana Ampong Kromantang the Krontihene of Techimantia, the District Co-ordinating Director Mr. Hayford Kyereh and his Deputies, Heads of Department, Assembly Members and a section of the General Public.         

TANO SOUTH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY DISBURSES FUNDS TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (PWD)

The Tano South District Assembly has disbursed it’s 2% share of the Common Fund meant for people with disabilities to beneficiaries in the District.

                                   

Some of the persons with disabilities at the function

At a short but impressive ceremony held at the premises of the Tano South District Assembly,  the Tano South District Director of the department of Social Welfare and Community Development Mr. Samuel Kyeremeh in a welcome address expressed his appreciation for been part of the ceremony, he said though the money would not be enough as may be expected but would go a long way to help the PWD’S to be able to stand on their feet and urged them to use the money for the purpose of which it is intended.

                           

Mr. Samuel Kyeremeh speaking at the function

Mr. Kyeremeh hinted that plans are underway to initiate an award for PWD’S who would use the money profitably and said the award would cater for the best PWD entrepreneur.

The Tano South District Chief Executive Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba in a speech said he was delighted to be part of this important ceremony, he said in recognition to the important role that PWD’S play in the Socio-Economic Development of the country the government has set aside 2% of the District Assembly’s Common Fund allocated to every district for disbursement to persons with disabilities which is aimed at minimizing the poverty among all PWD’S particularly those outside the formal sector of employment and the enhancement of their social image through dignified labour.

                           

Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba in a speech at the function

Hon. Anaba said apart from the Seventeen Thousand, Three Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢ 17,300.00) which was to be disbursed to fifty two (52) beneficiaries at the ceremony an amount of Forty Eight Thousand, One Hundred Ghana Cedis

(GH¢ 48, 00.00) had as at the end of November, 2014 been disbursed to Eighty One (81) beneficiaries in the fields of education, medical, apprenticeship, income generation and many others and cautioned the beneficiaries that the money was not to be used for Christmas festivities but should be used strictly for the purpose for which it was intended.

Hon. Anaba announced that the Tano South District is now a beneficiary of the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) programme and said official of the assembly would soon begin to work on it and called for cooperation from all to enable the programme to be successful in the District and the right people identified as beneficiaries of the programme.

A blind beneficiary Mr. Philip Dei on behalf of his colleagues thanked the government and the assembly for coming to their aid.  He said some words of encouragement spoken by the D C E goes a long way to encourage them to use the money judiciously and said by their actions and the activity they would engage the money in, the end result would enable some of them to receive awards on the intended awards to be initiated.

                                    

Mr. Philip Dei speaking on behalf of his colleagues

NATIONAL SANITATION DAY OBSERVED AT BECHEM

The chiefs and people of Bechem the Tano South District Capital and workers of various departments in the township observed the National Sanitation week in compliance, with the Ministry of Local Government directive that the day must be observed on the first Saturday of every month.

The day which saw a massive clean-up exercise led by the Tano South District Chief Executive Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba saw  the clearing of weeds, desilting of choked gutters  and a general clean-up exercise at the Bechem Government Hospital.

Addressing the gathering after the clean-up exercise, the Tano South District chief Executive Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba expressed his appreciation to the massive turn-out exhibited by the people and the zeal with which they carried out the exercise and said the introduction of the National Sanitation Day by the Ministry of Local Government would go a long way to solve some of the problems the country is facing on sanitation since the participation of the people would also lessen  the burden on the government.

Hon. Anaba hinted that a bill on the National Sanitation Day had been put before Parliament for approval and when it is approved it will become mandatory that the day would be observed every month as indicated.

The district chief executive said the exercise would not be carried out in Bechem alone but would cut across the entire Tano South District so that it would improve the sanitary condition of the district.

Hon. Anaba thanked all who in one way or the other helped to make the exercise a success.

30TH EDITION OF BRONG AHAFO REGIONAL FARMERS DAY CELEBRATION HELD AT DERMA IN THE TANO SOUTH DISTRICT

The Brong Ahafo Regional and the Tano South District Version of the 30^th Edition of the National Farmers Day Celebration was held at Derma a Farming Community in the Tano South District.

                 

Prizes on display at the durbar grounds

The programme which attracted a large number of people and dignitaries saw the Brong Ahafo Regional Minster, the Member of Parliament for the Tano South Constituency, the President of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs the Tano South District Chief Executive, Regional and Tano South District Heads of various departments and agencies in attendance.

The Tano South District Chief Executive Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba in a welcome address said he was highly delighted to address and welcome all to the 30^th Brong Ahafo Regional and Tano South Farmer’s Day Celebration at Derma. He said he commended the effort of our hard working farmers and fully appreciated their role even in the face of global and national challenges to the sector.

                              

The Tano South District Chief Executive Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba

Hon. Anaba said the Agric sectors contribution to the development of the economy of the Tano South District cannot be under estimated since majority of the workforce in the District are engaged in agriculture as their source of livelihood and said the government through the COCOBOD distributed several bags of fertilizer free of charge to cocoa farmers whose cocoa farms were 12 years old and above in the district to increase production.

He said the Agric department in the district has embarked on a six (6) acre demonstration farm on good agricultural practice on cassava, maize, cowpea and  a 30 acre rice project under the governments rice progamme to increase rice production.

Hon. Anaba said the objective of the day was not only to honour farmers and fishermen for their contribution but also to encourage people especially the youth to take advantage of the vast lands available in the district to go into agriculture and said the presentation of these awards to winners in this ceremony does not in any way mean that the contribution of those who are not receiving awards are  not acknowledged and used the opportunity to assure those farmers who are working hard but are yet to received any award to continue to work harder so that they could also be selected for awards in future and entreated all to join him at this juncture to congratulate the award winners and enjoin them not to relent on their effort but rather work harder to win higher laurels in the years ahead and  used the occasion to welcome all present and a prayed that the celebration becomes a memorable one.

In a speech, the Brong Ahafo Regional director of Agriculture Dr. Cyril Quist said once again, farmer’s day is here with us and would like all to join him in thanking all farmers in the region by whose sweat and toil we feed and earn foreign exchange for the development of the other sectors of the Ghanaian economy and also congratulate the award winners.

Dr. Quist said, for the first time in the history of the farmers day 9  illustrious farmers of the Brong  Ahafo Region  are currently in Sefwi Wiaso where the national one is been held to receive national awards out of which one from Tain District and the other from the Tano South District  are gunning for any of the 3 overall National Best Award slots.

                         

       

The Brong Ahafo Regional director of Agriculture Dr. Cyril Quist

Dr. Quist said the theme for the celebration “EAT WHAT WE GROW” provides all of us the opportunity to  reflect on how as individuals, groups, organizations, businesses, and government we can contribute to the growth and development of agriculture by investing in what we grow and also by eating what we grow and said the cascading effects of our collective efforts and  actions will not only ensure food self sufficiency for our country but also guarantee sustainable economic growth for us as a country.

Dr. Quist said, to create the environment to sustain the campaign to “EAT WHAT WE GROW”  a number of measures have been put in place in the Region which  include the construction  of  feeder roads to link farming communities and a number of private initiatives to mechanize agriculture.

He said, in a bid to mitigate the effects of climate change such as drought, dry spells and inadequate rainfall, farmers in the Pru, Sene, Atebubu Amanteng and Kintampo North District are being supported under the Adaptation of Ago-Eco systems to climate change (AAESCC) project with adaptation measures and strategies in the areas of information on weather, soil and water conservation, drought resistant seed varieties.

Dr. Quist said that the food situation in the region remains positive and said the major season crop production recorded surpluses as against the consumption need for all the major staples of the region except rice and said the various departments of Agriculture in the region continue to disseminate various technologies in the areas of crops, livestock, fisheries and horticulture to improve productivity, increase farmers income and reduce poverty and used the occasion to thank all who supported the 30^th Brong Ahafo Regional  Farmers day celebration and wished the award winners “Ayekoo”.

The Member of Parliament for  the Tano South Constituency and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dr. Hannah Louisa Bissiw in a speech  said farmers needed to be given recognition since they play an important role when it comes to the country’s development and hinted that the government would soon construct the Derma –Asuaso road which she said when the project is completed would go a long way to help the farmers to transport their produce to the urban centers for sale. Hon. Bisiw said  the government has introduced a value change programme with the aim to minimize the importation of foreign products especially chicken and urged poultry farmers in the region to expand their businesses to produce more to meet the demands of the people.

                               

The Member of Parliament for  the Tano South Constituency and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Dr. Hannah Louisa Bissiw

The Brong Ahafo Regional Minster Hon. Eric Opoku in his address joined other speakers to welcome all at the function and said he on behalf of his Excellency the President of the Republic of  Ghana, the chiefs and citizens of the Brong Ahafo Region and on his own behalf wished to salute our industrious farmers and all stakeholders in the agricultural sector on the very special and unique occasion of the 30^th Regional Farmers Day Celebration and said indeed the nation is proud of our hardworking   farmers who go through a lot of difficulties  and challengers all year  round to always provide food on our tables to ensure that we are always healthy to contribute  our quota to national development and also highly commend their efforts because they are the one who have ensured food security for this region and the nation over the years.

Hon. Opuku said, inspired by the government’s policy on the broad national objectives for agricultural planning under the Food and Agriculture sector development programme (FASDEP) and Ghana’s  Medium Term Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (METASSIP) people in the Brong Ahafo have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of vigorous improved agricultural production, fostering of public private co-operation and investments household food security to achieve sustainable agricultural growth and development.

                                      

The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister Hon. Eric Opoku

Hon. Opuku said, over the years the Brong Ahafo Region had been self sufficient in the production of a diversity  of agricultural products including cereals, legumes, root and tuber crops, plantain, vegetables ,tree crops, poultry, livestock and fish and said currently the region is the leading producer of maize and the second in cassava production in the country and as a result we are proud to state that the region produces over 30% of the food requirements of the country and the sterling achievement has earned it the enviable title “Food Basket of Ghana” .

Hon. Opuku said emphasis has always been placed on the need for Ghanaians to adopt simple lifestyles that will orient our demand partners toward the patronage  of locally produced foods and services which include the consumption of locally agricultural products and our expectation is that the change in our behavior pattern will lead to a reduction in the overdependence on imported products which will in turn boost our local industry and help conserve foreign exchange as well as create employment for our people.

Sadly, the Regional Minister said,  statistics available shows that Ghana spends huge sums of foreign exchange annually to import rice, sugar, tomatoes, vegetable, cooking oil, frozen fish, poultry and wheat, the situation he said has prompted  policy makers and economists to call for a look at the basic structure of our economy which is heavily import dependent and also on the export of a narrow band of primary products and its therefore appropriate that the theme “EAT WHAT WE GROW”  has been chosen for the 30^th National Day Celebration.

Hon. Opuku said the advantages of “eating what we grow” are enormous as in addition to the health and nutritional benefits of eating fresh local foods the growing success of the campaign would also translate into other tangible benefits such as job creation, poverty reduction and consequently increase economic growth.

Hon. Opoku said as we are all aware agriculture is the main stay of our economy and development and as a nation if we can educate and appeal to our people to focus our attention on consuming our locally made products we would be setting the stage for a major transformation and paradigm shift of our economy generally and strengthen our national currency.

The Regional Minster retariated that the government under the able leadership of President Mahama decided to support our cocoa farmers in order to boost their morale for increased production of cocoa by initiating the free distribution of fertilizer to support them and again said it is gratifying to note that the government announced a 62.74% increment in the production price of cocoa for the 2014/2015 season and government deciding to pay an approved bonus of GH₵ 5.00 per bag of 64kg.

Hon. Opoku informed the gathering that under the National programme and drive towards the mechanization of agriculture 8 agriculture mechanization centers have been establish in the region with 48 tractors supplied on credit basis to the centers.

Hon. Opoku said that, high agriculture growth can only materialize through modernization and diversification, driven by public and private investment in the agriculture sector as currently there are several examples of public – private partnership performing excellently in the agriculture sector in the region.

Hon. Opoku said the setting in of the dry season or harmattan brings with it the adverse consequences of bush fires which often claims lives and property and it is on this note that he is appealing to all and sundry to give their full support to the appropriate authorities to enable us stem this menace in order to protect our farm lands and other properties.

The Regional Minister finally on behalf of the government of Ghana Regional Co-ordinating council and the chiefs and people of the Brong Ahafo Region and on his own  behalf congratulated the award winners and said it is his expectation that the Award will motivate the winners to work even harder than before and urged those who could not win any award this year not to be discouraged, but to continue to work harder knowing that all of us cannot be award winners at the same time but resolve not to relent on our efforts to ensure that we work individually and collectively  to achieve sustainable food supply and security for the people of our region in particular and the country as a whole and ended by commending and expressing his sincerest appreciation to all those who contributed in diverse ways towards the success of the programme.

                                 

The two co- chairmen Nana Krobea Asante   second left and Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto II second right

Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto II the Omanhene of Bechem Traditional Area who co-chaired the occasion with Nana Krobea Asante the chief of Derma in his closing remark said farmers contribution towards the socio economic  development of the country has been enormous and pleaded with the government to avail the farmer with the necessary inputs to help them raise productivity and called on the farmers to  be part of the PSI programme.

The Regional best farmer award went to Mr. Tweneboah Kodua Alex of Mim.

           

Mr. Tweneboah Kodua Alex receiving his award and acknowledging the gesture