President ends tour of Ashanti Region

President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, last Friday, ended his three-day tour of the Ashanti region which took him to Drobonso in the Sekyere Afram Plains, Kumawu in the Kumawu Sekyere district and Effiduase in the Sekyere East District.

The last day of the president’s itinerary which was packed and intermittently interrupted by rains, included the inspection of construction of a two single-storey dormitory block at the Drobonso Community Senior High School (SHS) and sponsored by the Ministry of Education under the GETFund project undertaken by Zaffas Construction Company Limited.

The school which was one of the E-Block schools’ projects initiated and completed by the outgone President John Dramani Mahama-led NDC administration, was remotely sited about seven kilometers away from the Drobonso community which necessitated the idea to construct dormitory blocks in order to convert the school into largely a community boarding school.

The President also toured the MIRO Forestry Company Limited at Drobonso which is engaged in the production of plywood and other wood- related products and the planting of forests to provide raw materials for same, under the government’s 1D1F flagship programme.

President Akufo-Addo, in a short speech at a durbar organised by the chiefs and people of the Sekyere Afram Plains directed that the necessary steps should be taken immediately to terminate the contract for the construction of an office complex for the Sekyere Afram Plains District Assembly and look for a new contractor to complete the project.

The district assembly complex is about 90 percent complete but the contractor is said to have abandoned the project which is hampering the smooth operation of the assembly.

Nana Dwamena Dankwah Dwebisiaw, Drobonsohene, lamented that armed robbers take advantage of the remoteness of the traditional area to commit crimes and appealed to the president to provide a vehicle and residential quarters for the policemen stationed in the district.

The Drobonsohene mentioned that out of the 70 communities in the district only Drobonso is connected to the national grid and appealed to the president for the improvement of road network to link the district to other major and commercial towns in the area.

At a separate durbar of chiefs and people of the Kumawu Traditional area, the Kumawuhene, Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua, enumerated a number of road projects in the traditional area that have been completed and others in progress and also those projects that have been awarded on contract for the traditional area by the Akufo-Addo led NPP administration.

The Kumawumanhene mentioned Sekyere Nkwanta bridge, the Sekyere -Akokyire, the Ejisu- Kumawu and the Kumawu township roads, a fishmeal and starch factory under the 1D1F programme, among others, as some of the projects in the traditional area that were dear to his heart.

President Akufo-Addo, who spoke rather briefly, assured the chiefs and people of the traditional area that his government has embarked on a massive road project throughout the country and that Kumawu and its environs and other parts of the region would get their share of the projects.

The President gave his Ministers, especially the Ministers for Roads and Highways, Mr. Akwasi Amoako Attack, Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyemang-Manu the opportunity to speak to most of the concerns by the chiefs which bordered on those sectors.

The Roads and Highways Minister, Mr. Amoako Atta, catalogued a tall list of roads in the traditional area that had been completed, those under construction and those awarded on contract or about to be placed on tender, including the Kumawu Township roads and assured the chiefs and people of Kumawu that all the demands shall be met.

President Akufo-Addo also inspected work on the Kumawu Hospital and later interacted briefly with students at the Tweneboa Kodua Senior High School (SHS), where he advised the students especially the first batch of the free SHS students who are preparing to write their WASCE to study hard and pass well so as to prove the naysayers of the free SHS wrong.