BAWKU WEST ASSEMBLY MAKES PROGRESS (PAGE 23)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Zebilla

THE year 2007 will go down the annals of the Upper East Region in particular and the three northern regions in general as a very challenging year for those regions.
This is as a result of the disaster that befell almost all communities in those parts of the country.
The disaster was in two folds, the first was the severe drought that hit the area between April and June resulting in the withering of most of the crops the residents planted.
The disaster was followed closely by another one — floods that occurred between August and November that reached uncontrollable levels leading to the lost of lives and property, including farm produce and livestock.
The situation compelled the central government to declare a state of emergency in the three regions and launched a global appeal for food and medical aid.
The government’s rapid response to the disaster, as well as that of philanthropists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), went a long way to save the three regions from catastrophe.
Despite these challenges, most Municipal and District Assemblies in the three northern regions, with support from their development partners, have managed to surmount the challenges posed by the natural disasters.
The three regions have striven through thick and thin, achieved much success in the areas of health, agriculture, education, amongst others, despite the disasters.
One district in the Upper East Region, which has not been daunted by those challenges, is the Bawku West District Assembly.
Under the leadership of a young and dynamic District Chief Executive (DCE), the assembly has pursued effective plans and policies targeted at bringing relief to the people.
The DCE, Mr Desmond Bugbilla, a former Customs, Exercise and Preventive Service Officer, took over the administration of the area from Mr Moses Abaare Appiah in January, this year, after President Kufuor had relieved the latter of his post.
On assumption of office, Mr Bugbilla took it upon himself to familiarise himself with all the 11 divisional chiefs in the district.
The visit was also to afford him the opportunity to interact with the traditional rulers and identify the problems and concerns confronting the people and devise meaningful ways of addressing them.
The visits also offered the new DCE the opportunity to inspect ongoing development projects in the various traditional areas.
Mr Bugbilla also used the tour to introduce mini people’s assembly concept in the various communities.
He instituted the forums as a way of interacting with members of the various communities to explain government policies and programmes directly to the people and to seek their maximum support to ensure the success of his administration.
Through the mini people’s assembly concept, he was able to form and inaugurate Town and Area Councils and crowned them with the District People’s Assembly.
The Bawku West District is one local government agency that ranks high among its peers. The assembly is deeply committed to the decentralisation process.
Over the past years, the assembly accomplished its constitutional mandate and built the capacities of not only assembly members, but also members of the sub-structures and heads of decentralised departments.
Operationalisation of the sub-structures has earned the district prestige as it was adjudged the second best assembly in that direction in 2003.
In 2007, the District Co-ordinating Director led a team of councillors and secretaries of the sub-structures to Yendi where they made a presentation on the districts experience in operationalisation of the sub-structures.
Currently, the sub-structures have, through counterpart funding from IBIS Ghana and the district assembly, instituted monthly rotational meetings of chairpersons and secretaries to address common problems confronting them. Those arrangements have reduced the number of cases addressed to the DCE’s office for solution.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Bugbilla commended the central government, traditional rulers and the assembly’s development partners for their co-operation towards the rapid development of the area.
Cataloguing some of the achievements of the district since he assumed duty, Mr Bugbilla mentioned that in the area of health, the assembly had been very supportive.
He said currently, 100 nurses trainees were being sponsored in the nurses’ training colleges while about 60 others had already passed out and were working in the district.
The DCE added that two medical students and a medical assistant were also being sponsored by the assembly and were expected to serve the district on completion of their courses.
According to Mr Bugbilla, a 100-kilowatt stand-by diesel generator had been procured by the assembly and given out to the district hospital to be used in time of power outages.
Mr Bugbilla stated that the District Health Directorate in collaboration with the District Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit was in the process of screening food vendors and issue them with certificates.
He added that the assembly would soon pass a bye-law against the sale of non-iodated salt in the district.
The DCE, however, bemoaned the high prevalence rate of the HIV/AIDS in the district and appealed to the youth to take the necessary precaution to avoid its escalation in the area.
He said under the National Health Insurance Scheme, a total of 34,450 people were registered in 2007.
According to Mr Bugbilla, the scheme continued to receive support from the district assembly to ensure that its coverage was extended to many more people.
He said the National Youth Employment Programme was also progressing steadily in the district.
The DCE stated that since its inception of the programme, six models had been rolled out employing a total of 834 youth so far.
On agriculture, he said the assembly with support from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), was collaborating with stakeholders, such as Technoserve, an NGO, to boost food security in the district.
Mr Bugbilla cited for instance that, under a MoFA-Technoserve partnership, a total of 110 farmers from five communities, namely Teshie, Soogo, Yikurugu, Sakom and Nagbere, were supported with pumping machines, fertilisers and other farming inputs to cultivate 110 acres of onions.
On infrastructure, Mr Bugbilla said some roads that were destroyed by the floods had been awarded on contract. They include the 12.6-kilometre Kubore-Sapeliga road, the 8.4-kilometre Kukruzua-Widnaba road, the Zabilla-Zabre road, the nine-kilometre Zebilla-Teshie-Soogo road.
The DCE stated that the Zebilla township-hospital and Kobore Junction-Sapeliga roads had also been earmarked for tarring this year.
On rural electrification, the DCE said as part of government's programme to ensure that every community was hooked to the national grid, some communities in the district had been selected for that project. They include Widnaba, Zongoyire, Komaka, Buliga, Apodabogo and Dagunga.
On finance, the DCE stated that the assembly generated GH¢49,361 revenue internally last year, representing 88 per cent of its target of GH¢56,336.
He, however, indicated that effective measures had been put in place to increase the assembly’s revenue from traditional sources.
A cursory look at the development profile of the Bawku West District indicates that it is on track and ready to meet the aspiration of the people.