Akuapem North District In Focus

Thursday July 16, 2009
By Samuel Opare Lartey, Akuapem North

Samuel Ofosu Ampofo — Eastern Regional Minister

One of the districts in the Eastern Region which can boast of more tourist potentials and attraction sites in the country is the Akuapem North District.

This district, which is located at the southern end of the Eastern Region and about 58 km from the nation’s capital city, Accra, has a population of about 166,700.

It covers about 450 sq km of the total land of the region with its capital being Akropong.

The Akuapem North District shares boundaries with the Akuapem South, Yilo Krobo, New Juaben, Dangme West and the Suhum Kraboa Coaltar districts.

It has about 230 towns and villages which stretch from Obosomase in the South, Abonse in the East to Okrakwadwo, Asamang in the North to Okorase and Mangoase in the West.

The district has three main spoken languages which are Akuapem Twi, which represents the largest ethnic group in the area, the Kyerepon and the Guans, but there are other ethnic tribes like Ewes, Krobos and the northerners who constitute a small percentage of the district.

Some of the major towns and villages are Larteh which represents the Benkum Division, Akropong is the capital of the district, Mampong is the seat of Ghana’s cocoa, Adukrom is the Nifa Division and Amanokrom also is the Gyaasi Division.

The rest are Tinkong, Amamfro, Awukugua, the home town of Okomfo Anokye, Dawu ,Abiriw, Aseseeso, Abonse, Mamfe, Tutu, Apirede, Adawso, Okorase,  Kwamoso and Asenema.
Politically, the Akwapim North District has two constituencies with two Members of Parliament.

They are Mr. Dan Kwaku Botwe, Okere Constituency and the former NPP General Secretary and Mr. W.O.Boafo, the Akropong Constituency and also the former Deputy Minister for Defence.

Currently, Mr. Godfred Opare Addo is the DCE for Akwapim North and one of the youngest District Chief Executives in the country to be appointed by President Mills’ administration.

The 28-year-old DCE holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Ghana and was the former Managing Director of IGIT Group of Companies.

Out lining his vision for the people in the district, the DCE said that the first thing he would like to tackle is the unemployment problem of the youth through the revamping of the numerous tourist sites in the area.

He said that the district has been described by a section of the people as “A Mine of Tourist Attractions” in Ghana due to the presence of many tourist sites in the area.

In view of this the NPP government tried to enhance the status of some of the sites through the provision of electricity and modern places of convenience and educational infrastructure.

The NPP also initiated a number of projects and developmental programmes such as construction of roads and other facilities of which some have been completed and others yet to be completed.

It is in this direction that the DCE, Mr. Opare Addo, has made it his priority to develop the sites to curb the unemployment of the youth and to reduce poverty in the district.

He mentioned some of the sites as the Akonedi shrine at Larteh, Akaa falls and Nsuta falls at Akyeremateng, Obosabea Rock, Asenema Falls , Tetteh Quarshie cocoa farm at Mampong, six-in- one palm tree at Kwamoso, Abonse Slave Market centre at Abonse, Okomfo Anokye’s birth place at Awukugua and the Okomfo Anokye Oboware.

There is also one of the first colleges in West Africa which is the Presbyterian Training College at Akropong now known as Presbyterian College of Education.

He announced that the district administration which is headed by him would soon embark on vigorous developmental programmes on the sites in the area to enable the assembly create employment opportunities for the youth.

Mr. Opare Addo said that the tourism industry has been one of the fastest growing sectors in the world and if the nation could take up the challenge and develop the various sites in the country there would be enough money to develop other sectors and also solve the unemployment problem in the country.

The DCE also mentioned education and the intensive training of the youth in the various professions and skills.

He said the district was once noted for its high academic standards and respect which put almost every educated person in the area on the agenda of every institution in the country.

Mr. Opare Addo said that the situation has changed drastically in recent times hence his avowed intention to raise the standard of education through the provision of incentives to the teachers to motivate them to sacrifice and die a little for the children.

He appealed to parents to also assist the district administration to educate their children by cutting down their social spending to enable them provide the basic needs of the children.

He also said the district assembly has plans to give the youth in the district skills training to enable them become employable after completion or start their own businesses.

He said that agriculture would also be boosted through the revamping of the Kwamoso and the Okrakwadwo state farms because majority of the inhabitants in the district are either peasant farmers or petty traders due to the hilly and rocky nature of the area.

He said the situation has compelled most of the youth to migrate to the capital city of Accra and other urban centres to search for unavailable jobs.

Available records at the district assembly indicated that the main crops grown in the area are maize, cassava, vegetables, plantain, citrus, oil palm and a little cocoa and a lot of them are produced on the low land areas.

“Mampong, Aseseeso and Kwamoso are some of the areas where majority of the vegetables are produced.”

The records also indicated that the district has the potential for the development of aquaculture on a large scale and currently between 50 to 60 ponds exist around Mampong-Nkwanta Valley and Abonse communities where tilapia, cod and cat fish are produced.

The DCE therefore appealed to the traditional authorities in the district to release or make lands available for the youth to go into large scale farming because of their roles in the decentralisation of the nation.

He said they play important parts in the development of their traditional areas and the education and enlightenment of their people by providing land and materials for infrastructural projects, mobilisation of the communities for communal labour and arbitration of disputes.

“The chiefs are part of the decentralisation process of the nation because of the roles they play in the nation’s building”, he said.

Mr.Godfred Opare Addo assured the people in the district that all the projects initiated by the NPP government would be completed before he leaves office because the projects were initiated for a good course and for the people in the area.

He said that roads are very important for people to access services and facilities and for that matter the rest of the roads which link the rural communities and are not motorable would be constructed to promote effective intra district communication and transportation and also to facilitate socio-economic development in the district.

Above all the DCE pledged to make every thing possible to ensure that good sanitation and the health of the inhabitants are catered for because it is a state of completeness (physical, psychological and social) and not the absence of diseases.

Posted under

Comments