There was chaos at Begoro in the Fanteakwa North District in the Eastern region when a man on a motorbike alleged to be an assembly member attempted to disrupt a press conference being held by the Begoro Youth and Concerned Fanteakwa North Youth on Wednesday, May 20, 2021, against the District Chief Executive for the area Oware Tweneboah.
Organizers of the Press conference had earlier been threatened and frustrated by the District Assembly in securing a venue for the program.
They, therefore, decided to use a durbar ground but the Assemblymember stormed the venue in an attempt to disrupt the media engagement but for the intervention of the Police who were already at the venue to provide security.
Addressing the media, the Begoro Youth Association and Concerned Fanteakwa North Youth expressed their disappointment at past and current leadership of the district for the deterioration and retrogression of Begoro as the district capital and the district at large.
The youth accused the current District Chief Executive Charles Oware Tweneboah of exhibiting incompetence and failed leadership since his appointment four years ago.
The youth cited issues of indiscriminate dumping of refuse due to inadequate waste collection containers, open defecation owing to abandoned public toilet projects fearing the District could be hit with cholera during the rainy season. Other issues raised are lack of potable water forcing many residents to depend on the polluted river Osubin.
The fallen standard of education leading to mass failure of students in both basic and senior high school, concealed government scholarship, the high unemployment rate among the youth was also cited to demonstrate the incompetence of the DCE.
“Fanteakwa North and Begoroman (Okyeman Bankum) is not a poor district. We are blessed with huge tourism potential and green vegetation which when tapped into, will be the main catalyst to the development of the district but due to bad leadership, we are unable develop these potentials to help develop Begoroman,” Mustapha Ahmed director of operation for the youth group.
“Unemployment among the youth and unclear guidelines to help empower the upcoming generation is a serious threat to the stability of Begoroman. The youth in Begoro lives in a hopeless environment with no possibilities for a better life. It saddens our heart that most of our colleagues out of frustrations have resulted to the use of drugs as a means of forgetting the hopeless environment within which they live”.
Insecurity
The Begoro Youth and Concerned Fanteakwa North Youth also raised serious concern about the growing insecurity in the district owing to rampant highway robbery attacks in the district but the DCE as Chairman of the District Security Council (DISEC) has failed to end the menace.
“Our beloved traders over the years have been attacked on the Abourso – Dedeso road and many of them have lost their lives and livelihood as a result of rampant robbery attacks (We say may their souls rest in peace). For over a decade, no direct stringent measures have been put in place to curb this situation and it clearly demonstrates the level of incompetent leader we have running the affairs of the citizens in the District.
“About a fortnight ago, armed robbers attacked travellers in Metro Mass bus 2:20 am at a police checkpoint. I repeat, at Police Checkpoint and robbed these travellers to a tune of (GH¢ 36,480.00) and 9 mobile phones. The report shows that the policemen on duty at that time had gone to sleep in their various homes”
“We are unable to blame the police command so much Because they lack the logistic to combat crime in the District. Let’s take this into consideration, a NADMO Director who hails from Begoro and has accommodation in Begoro has been given a government bungalow and the district Police commander lives in a rented single room with his wife and children. How do we expect him to perform to expectation”?
Teenage Pregnancy.
The youth said, teenage pregnancy is alarmingly high in the district due to the assembly’s failure to support apprenticeship training. “The District has no plans to neither sponsor for apprenticeship training nor act as facilitators to help those that have interest in learning a vocation. No measures have been put in place to empower Artisans in Begoro and the whole District. The District is blessed with competent Mason, Carpenters, Painters and Plumbers yet they have been relegated to the background”
Removal of DCE
The youth called on the President to remove the DCE for failure to deliver.
“District chief executive has failed the government and his subjects and under no circumstances does he deserve re-nomination as a District chief executive of Fanteakwa North. He has failed his people and we the youth of Begoro are unable to contain him here again as the District chief executive going forward. We are pleading with the president of the Republic, the chief of staff, the Vice President, Council of State, Eastern Region, Okyehene and the Regional minister to rescue Begoroman from continuously going down the drain”
Begoro Ankoabeahene Nana Owiredu Agyarko Minta II agreed with the youth on issues raised with the call on the government to address them.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Kojo Ansah
