The Gomoa East District Assembly in the Central Region is calling for investors to support them in the establishment of the “Gomoa White Salt Board”.
The district has an abundance of local salt but does not have a board to regulate this natural resource like the Gold Board.
The District Chief Executive, Margaret Naana Ackom, made this call in an exclusive interview with Onua News while accounting for her stewardship after one year of being in office.
“We have GoldBod in Ghana, but we don’t have a salt board. I am talking about the local salt in Ghana. Now we are in the dry season, so it is available and cheaper, but during the rainy season, one cannot get salt to buy; it becomes expensive,” she explained.
She said the assembly wants to establish the board so that there will be a place for storage to serve all the regions in Ghana.
“When the board is created, we will get a place for storage so salt will be available in either the rainy season or the dry season, and we can also export it because in places where snow is massive, they use salt to wipe or clear the snow.”
Madam Naana Ackom said it will also create employment opportunities for the youth because most of them are already involved in the salt mining but on a smaller scale.
Cement factory
The DCE is appealing to the Chief Executive Officer for Engineers and Planners, Ibrahim Mahama, to come to their aid with the opening of a cement factory in the district.
She said the district has five quarry sites which will provide raw materials for the manufacturing of cement in the district.
No bank
The district, which has the largest population in the Central Region, does not have a single bank.
Those who transact business through banks will either travel to Kasoa, Winneba or Agona Swedru, and with this, the DCE is appealing to the commercial banks to, as a matter of urgency, open their branches in the district.
Madam Naana Ackom explained that the district now has its portion of the 24-hour market, which should come with a bank because these traders would need banks to transact their businesses.
No Court
On legal matters, the DCE also added that the district lacks a court and as such litigants and police officers have to travel to other districts to be able to adjudicate their cases.
She explained that some of these district courts are already congested, and as such, adding up cases from Gomoa East delays the justice system.
Education
On education, the DCE said within the one year, the assembly, in collaboration with the member of parliament, presented books, pens, pencils and other educational materials to both Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates and West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) students.
She added that 10% of the District Assembly’s Common Fund should be channeled into education, and as such, the Assembly has begun building schools for the areas that do not have such facilities.
“We have given Point Hope a 3-unit classroom block because the land was a challenge. Duawonfo, we have built a 6-unit classroom block with teachers’ bungalows, and here, they do not have school at all, so the children walk all the way to Fetteh, so Fetteh is really choked.”
Health
The DCE said the assembly has provided the CHPS compound to Nkwantanan to provide basic health needs for the people, while 20% of the assembly’s common fund is also going into legacy projects in the district.
“We have a DCE bungalow on the premises of the assembly, and we have converted that into eight offices, such as those of the Ghana Immigration Service, National Identification Authority, and Signal Bureau, among others, because we realised that apart from this one, the past government was constructing another bungalow at Dominase, so we decided to convert this one into offices,” she said.
On the persons with disabilities support, Madam Naana Ackom explained that some of them were given something depending on the individual needs of the person.
Sanitation
Madam Naana Ackom said the assembly has established a sanitation task force to ensure sanitation, while the assembly has also purchased containers to be distributed to various areas in the district for the residents to be able to dump refuse.
Premix fuel
The DCE said even though part of the district is a coastal area, there were just two premix fuel landing committees, which was inadequate.
“We have three coastal towns, but we had two committees. We had one at Fetteh and Nyanyaano, but Dampase did not. Fisher folks had to travel all the way to Winneba or Apam before they get premix fuel, but we have been able to establish one at Dampase because we are talking about over 360 canoes in my district,” she explained.
By Timothy Antwi-Otoo
