Tuesday, May 04, 2010 11:22:41 PM
The Distrct Chief Executive (DCE): Hon. Mohammed Ibn Abass
200 widows in Bimbila call on government for help
200 women in the Bimbila Widows Camp (formed out of the 1994 Konkomba-Nanumba) conflict are calling on the government to come to their aid.
The widows want to embark on commercial agriculture in addition to kente, soap, dawadawa and groundnut paste production. These are products they produce through the help of ActionAid Ghana and other agencies.
ActionAid Ghana with the support of other civil society organisations have been very instrumental in helping them make a living.
The government, according to the women, has not done enough for them.
They want the government to provide them some credit facilities, farm machinery and other inputs to enable them go into commercial agriculture.
Sister Wasila, Caretaker of the Widows Camp told Citi FM that the camp was established with the aim of helping the widows preach peace and help stop conflicts in the area.
She was grateful to various sponsors that have assisted the camp and its inmates with skills training, and called on the government to also come to their aid.
“We have gained a lot of skills from ActionAid and other organisations but we need the government to come to our aid and upgrade us,” she said, explaining that the acquired skills, coupled with funding and material support from the government will enable them transport their produce to the market.
Story by Ernest Dela Aglanu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
Bimbila embarks on development projects
The District Chief Executive for Nanumba North, Mohammed Ibin-Abass, has expressed gratitude for the prudent management of the assembly's resources that has enabled it undertake some infrastructural development despite meeting a debt of GH¢300,000 from the previous administration.
He said because of the huge debts of the district at the time, development partners were not ready to assist the district but his administration had been able to cancel those debts, raising confidence in the development partners.
Mr Ibin-Abass was addressing a durbar at Bimbila at the weekend which was attended by a cross-section of the people.
He noted that within a short time in office, his administration had built 10 bungalows for tutors of the Bimbila Training College, classrooms and dormitories at the Bimbila Senior High School and a soya-bean processing factory which is still being constructed.
The assembly has also built a chip-zone at Napa and improved some market structures.
Currently, the assembly intends to extend mechanized water facility to four communities though the Northern Regional Water Project.
Mr Ibin-Abass said some feeder roads had been improved through resurfacing and had collaborated with the Ghana Highway Authority to improve some parts of the Eastern Corridor roads.
He said massive employment of the youth in the area would soon start through the NYEP and that the block farming concept was still on course and many youths had been engage in it.
He expressed concern about the bad roads in the area as well as shortage of portable water, saying these are the major problems the district was facing.
He called for assistance from the government.
Mr Ibin-Abass appealed to the Ministry of Health to post more health personnel to the area since the district has only one doctor and a few nurses.
He also appealed for an ambulance.
Source: GNA
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Nanumba North District
Nanumba North District is located at the eastern part of the Northern Region of Ghana. The district shares boundaries with East Gonja District to the west and south-west, and Yendi District to the north. To the east, it shares boundaries with Zabzugu/Tatali District and the Republic of Togo, and to the south east with the Volta Region. The district capital is Bimbilla.
The district is predominantly rural with population between 200 – 500 people in small settlements scattered all over the district. A total of 76,463 of the population, representing about 86% (2000) are located in rural communities.
The current projected population of the district using 2.7% annual rate of growth in the 2000 Population and Housing Census Special Report of 88,910 is 101,760. The ratio of male to female 49.4 to 50.6 and the population is basically youthful with about 52.1% between (0-18) years.
Religious Composition:
The Religious composition of the district largely gives an indication of ethnicity especially with the dominant groups. Whilst Nanumbas are predominantly Moslems, Konkombas are largely Christians and atheist.
Migration and development implication:
Nanumba North district is endowed with fertile soils serving as a magnet drawing people into the district especially the Konkombas. People come into the district to make yam farms during the rainy season. Often, when one goes round the district settlements spring up indiscriminately without recourse to any authority.
Internal migration too is very typical of the district in that the shifting cultivation system of farming practiced here makes people move from one place to the other. This trend of movement of people tends to put a lot of pressure on facilities provided in communities, which receive people whilst some facilities are abandoned when people move away from that community.