Accra, July 23, GNA - The Member of Parliament for Gomoa East, Mr Richmond Sam Quarm has called on the authorities, as a matter of urgency to properly demarcate the constituency once and for all to minimise the numerous land disputes plaguing the area that has stalled its proper development. He alleged that, but for the humility and hospitality of his people, communities such as Chokor, Odorkor and other places, including the Usher Fort Prison, the Light House and the Accra main Post Office should have been under the tutelage of the Gomoa Fetteh Stool. Mr. Quarm said this in his maiden statement issued in Parliament on Wednesday on "the plight of the Gomoa East District to draw public and government attention to the problems facing the people of the area. He said the problems of the District started with the socio-political topography and consequent demarcation of the constituency.

The Member said he wondered whether the Electoral Commission has any idea as to where exactly the communities of Asebu, Mpota and Kweikrom share the boundary with Winneba or the exact boundaries of Senya Bereku located between and betwixt Ojobi, Kweikrom and Fetteh. Mr Quarm said by all parameters of social development, Gomoa remains the only District in the South that is always lumped alongside the three Northern Regions in terms of social development. He said this is because Gomoa has no timber, gold, diamonds, bauxite or other mineral deposits and has no arable lands for cash crops for cultivation. The Member said Gomoa the largest district after Assin in the Central Region could still have been helped by the Central Government with respect to its human resource development to enable it to play its meaningful role in Ghana's development.

Mr Quarm said it was the conviction of his people that as far as education was concerned, the Gomoa District should have been considered alongside those from the North in terms of government subsidies and scholarships. He said but for the magnanimity of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, who in 1972 set up a secondary school at Gomoa Potsin, there is no other single Secondary school from the Accra West up to Winneba. The member wondered what other criteria the Gomoa Potsin and Swedru Secondary Schools needed to prove in order to qualify for emergency assistance from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

He said with the luxury of being the first constituency westwards of the nation's capital city of Accra, one would have thought that the conditions of the basic schools in the Gomoa District would not have been an eye sore. Mr Quarm said up-to-date, there pupils without roofs over their heads at such places as Gomoa Lome and Dahom and others as well as peeling walls, leaking roofs and lack of furniture for most schools. He said if even the Apam District Hospital is crying for staff and other logistics to operate effectively the conditions of health posts in the constituency was worse and prayed that when the National Health Insurance Scheme takes off, the district would not be left out as happened to the education sector.

Mr Quarm said the arterial road networks in the district are not merely untarred, but most of them could only pass as "enlarged footpaths". Communities such as Okyereko, Mpota, Manpong, Adawukwaa and Dabanyin that have the high tension cables passing across their lands as well as densely populated communities of Amoanda, Akraman, Kweikrom and Odumase have still not been connected to the national grid.

Mr Quarm said of all the communities that do not have potable water, Nyanyaano, Ekotsi, Ojobi, Kweikrom and Fetteh are the hardest hit with the outbreak of water-borne diseases. He bemoaned the abandonment of the Gomoa Lome Coconut State Farms, the Nsuaem Tomato factory, the Oguaakrom Gold deposits, the Okyereko Irrigation project and the Pomadze Poultry Farms. Mr Quarm said the resuscitation of at least one of the enterprises could not only bring a glimmer of hope to the people but would create employment to the teeming jobless youth. He said consideration should be given to the people of Gomoa East for the magnanimity in giving hospitality to settling refugees from the West Africa sub-region at Buduburam.

Mr Quarm said against this background, the people of Gomoa East should be pacified with the provision of at least a single market and a senior secondary school to be sighted along the Accra - Winneba Road between Nyanyaano and Fetteh. He said the appeal goes, not only to the Government but also to the UN Security council, the UNHCR and other international donors and development partners. Alhaji Malik Al-hassan Yakubu, NPP- Yendi in supporting the statement said there was the need for government to offer the necessary goodwill towards the provision of social amenities to the people since the beauty of a country should cover all areas. Maj. S. K. Amponsah (Rtd) Mpohor Wassa East urged the MP to make the necessary contact with the Amir of the Ahmadiyya Mission to develop the school while the District Assembly should also assist in accelerated development for the area.

Capt. Nkrabea Effah-Dartey, (Rtd) Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development said there was then need for strengthening the Town and Area Councils to go beyond the District Assembly to assist the people to develop. He said the time has come for people who have migrated to the urban centres as well as those abroad to from local unions and assist the communities to develop. Capt. Effah-Dartey said a desk of sister-city relationship has been set up by the Ministry to assist districts seek for mutual development programmes. Mr MA Seidu, NDC- Wa Central commended the Ahmadiyya Mission for their assistance in providing quality education from the basic to the tertiary levels, especially in the rural areas and said their contributions to general development of education was commendable.