Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, the Central Regional Minister, has touted government’s achievements in the region in the past seven years, urging voters to retain the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the upcoming elections for continuous development.
She emphasised that the government had kept faith with the region and deserved another chance, pointing to various projects and interventions undertaken across various sectors since 2017.
Speaking at the Central Regional Townhall Meeting and Exhibition in Cape Coast, the Regional Minister observed that the government had been generous to the region in education, tourism, health, water and sanitation, security, agriculture, road infrastructure among other areas.
The Regional Townhall Meetings and Exhibitions, an initiative by the Ministry of Information, provides regional and sector ministers the platform to account to the people for their stewardship and shed light on some government projects.
Mrs Assan noted that the government had since 2017 undertaken 350 differe
nt infrastructural projects in various schools, 222 of which were at the basic level and 128 at the secondary level.
She said the Regional Director of Education and all district directors had been adequately resourced with vehicles to enhance their operations, adding that some 455 laptops and 34 buses had been distributed to various schools.
As the citadel of education in Ghana, she said government’s Free Senior High School (SHS) education policy had shot SHS enrolment from 20,300 in 2016 and to 53,980 in 2023, TVET enrolment also soaring dramatically.
‘This has reduced teenage pregnancy and is giving our young one’s practical skills to become better people in future,’ she said, entreating parents to leverage the opportunity.
In health, the Regional Minister boasted of some projects including the expansion of the accident and emergency unit and an infectious disease centre at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital as well as other projects across the region.
She indicated that eight of the Agenda 111 hospital
projects were at various stages of completion in the region, adding that the region now had 23 ambulances in good condition compared to the two before 2017.
‘His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and His Excellency Dr Bawumia are committed to health in the region,’ she said.
‘Don’t let anybody lie deceive you that the government misused your COVID money; it was used to undertake infrastructural projects for the benefit of all of us,’ she added.
The Regional Minister announced that government had constructed 5,702 kilometres of roads in the region.
She insisted that the ongoing 30-kilometre road dualisation project was being undertaken by the Government of Ghana and not ECOWAS as speculated.
She was hopeful that the project would open the region up to investment and development and improve tourism.
Mrs Assan intimated that agriculture had developed in the region significantly, pointing to the enhance rice production as well as the Planting for Food and Jobs police which she said had registered and s
upported more 21,000 farmers.
She said the region alone had 24 factories under the One District One Factory Project 11 of which were with 13 at various stages of completion.
Source: Ghana News Agency