GOVT RELEASES FUNDS FOR SHS BLOCKS IN BA (PAGE 22, JUNE 12, 2010)

THE government has released a GH¢2.2 million for the construction of additional classroom blocks in 20 senior high schools (SHSs) in the Brong Ahafo Region for the implementation of the three-year SHS programme scheduled to begin in September, this year.
The Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, who made this known, said the amount was for the first phase of the project on the 20 SHSs.
He said more money was expected to be released this week for the remaining SHSs in the region for the provision of similar infrastructure before the beginning of the new academic year.
“As I am speaking now, the contractors are on site and have started work to enable the first-year students who would begin the three-year SHS programme in September to get classrooms and other infrastructure for the smooth take-off of the programme,” he stressed.
Mr Opoku said this when he led the Second Lady, Mrs Lordina Dramani Mahama, and her entourage to pay a courtesy call on the Omanhene of the Nkoranza Traditional Area, Okatakyie Agyeman Kudom IV, at his palace at Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The visit by the wife of the Vice-President to the Nkoranzahene’s palace was a prelude to the donation of medical equipment by Mrs Mahama’s organisation, Alternative Source of Income Programme (ASOP), to three health facilities, namely St. Theresa’s Hospital, Busunya Health Centre and the Kintampo South Government Hospital in the Nkoranza South, Nkoranza North and Kintampo South districts in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Politically or administratively, the beneficiary health institutions are in three separate districts but traditionally, they are in the Nkoranza Traditional Area of the region.
Mr Opoku in response to an appeal by the Nkoranzahene for the Nkoranza-Kintampo, Nkoranza-Atebubu  and Nkoranza-Busunya roads, as well as the Nkoranza town roads, to be rehabilitated to ensure smooth transportation of people and farm produce during the rainy season, said those roads were on the priority list of the government and would be given the needed attention immediately.
He, therefore, called on the chiefs and people of Nkoranza to exercise restraint, as all development projects due the area would be executed by the government before the end of its first four-year term in office.
Mr Opoku also appealed to all traditional authorities in the region to mobilise their people and ensure that they participated in the forthcoming national census programme to ensure its success.
Mrs Mahama in a brief remark said her organisation had the objective to champion the welfare of the vulnerable in the society, especially widows and orphans.
She said the donation of the medical equipment to the three beneficiary health institutions was aimed at improving the quality of healthcare delivery in the country.
She called on Ghanaians to be patient with the government and rather rally behind it to achieve its “‘better Ghana agenda”.
The Omanhene of Nkoranza,  Okatakyie Kudomalso, appealed for the elevation of the Nkoranza South District Assembly to the status of a municipality.
He also called for the tarring of all roads linking Nkoranza to the other districts, especially Kintampo, Busunya and Atebubu, as well as the Nkoranza town roads.
He thanked the Second Lady for her gesture and appealed for more assistance for the health facilities in his traditional area.