Dodi Island(E/R), Jan 17, GNA - The government is to build a school and a clinic for the people of the Dodi Island this year as a first step towards providing the island people with some basic social amenities. The District Chief Executive of Asuogyaman, Mr Johnson Ahiakpor, sai= d this when he presented some items to the people on behalf of the President at the weekend.

The items included 10 bags of rice, two bales of second hand clothing= , eight cartons of soap, some plastic washing bowls, plastic buckets, plastic plates and cups.

He said the government would also extend electricity to the area so that people who visit the Island would stay longer and appealed to communit= y leaders of the Dodi Island to allocate land for the projects to start. The newly elected Assemblyman for the area, Mr Stephen Dzehu Avorgbedor, said the Island, which has a population of almost 600 people an= d half of who are children, does not have a public school. School children have to paddle canoe for one hour across the Afram Lake daily, with its attendant risks, to attend primary school at Agyabui. Mr Avorgbedor said the children had to continue high school at Gemeni in the Volta Region and that most parents on the Island had sent their children to stay with their relations in Gemeni and some parts of Volta region to be able to attend school.

Mr Fred Bart-Plange, Manager of Dodi Princess, the pleasure boat that is used to transport tourists to the Dodi Island, said when he took over management of the boat, he realized that when the tourists got to the Island, the youth pressured them for monetary gifts. He said such practices discouraged tourism promotion and so he got th= e Volta River Authority to acquire a set of cultural drums for the Dodi Islan= d community. He encouraged them to form cultural groups and brought a choreographer to teach the groups dances from various parts of the country. Mr Bart-Plange said the cultural groups on the Island had been divided into welcoming party and those that play for the tourists as they tour the Island.

He said funds raised from the tourists who want to learn the dances are shared among the members of the group to help stop the practice of begging from tourists.

The head of the Dodi Island community, Mr Vizier K. Atsitsogbe, said for many years politicians had always visited the Island to campaign for votes and after elections they never visited them again. He expressed the community's appreciation for the gifts and said a government official had visited them for the first time and pleaded with th= e government to provide the Island with a clinic. 1

150 returnees arrive at the Western Region

Sekondi, Jan. 17, GNA - At least 150 refugees from Cote d'Ivoire h= ave entered the Western Region, Mr Japheth Baidoo, Western Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organization, has said.

He told the GNA that with events unfolding in that country, it was necessary for Ghana to stand in readiness for more refugees. The refugees came through Princess Akatakye, Abuesi, Aboadze and other coastal areas of the region.

"Observing the situation and getting ready is important," mr Baido= o said. He said inauguration of a Joint Regional Operation Team codenamed "Quagbo" was in response to the unfolding events in Cote d'lvoire. Mr Baidoo said one of the major consequences of an escalation would be a large influx of displaced persons into Ghana especially through the Western border.