Wa, March 18, GNA - Mr. Aminu Salifu, the District Chief Executive for Wa East, has said the non-existence of basic infrastructure and social facilities was discouraging government workers from accepting positing to the area.

Private developers are equally refusing to locate or establish businesses there for the same reason.

Mr. Salifu said this when he interacted with the media in Wa to explain the development challenges facing the district. He said quality of the existing infrastructure in education, health, roads and water and sanitation among others were generally poor.

"Our district is the only district in the country that has not been connected to the national electricity grid thereby making it unattractive to workers and other developers to establish businesses there", Mr. Salifu said.

"As a result cottage industry activities in the area is non-existent and most of the government departments carry out their secretarial functions in Wa at a cost to them", he said. Mr. Salifu said teachers and nurses in the district were less than 50 per cent of the total requirements of the district and that had been affecting the quality of teaching and learning as well as service delivery at health facilities. He said the district therefore has a high adult illiteracy rate which in itself was militating against the ability of the people to appreciate the importance of formal education and accessing health

Mr. Salifu said this notwithstanding the geographical spread of the district was also a challenge to the movement and socialization of the people in the district.

For instance, the Kulun and Hamballara rivers in the South Sissala area of the district had divided the district into two, making it difficult for people in the Bulenga area to travel or interact with those in the Funsi area

Mr. Salifu said more than 50 per cent of communities in the district are always cut off during the peak of the rainy season every year and called on the government and other development partners to come to the aid of the district.

The said excessive charcoal burning and the influx of Fulani herdsmen and their cattle were degrading the environment and threatening wildlife in the district. On youth unemployment Mr. Salifu said many of the youth in the district had not been provided with employable skills and as a result, they had resorted to illegal mining of gold found at Duu in the district while some also move to Tinga in the Bole District for similar activities.

He said the district has tourist potentials and mentioned them as the Gbelle Game Reserve, the Duccie Range which is an extension of the Mole National Park, the Gbantale Living Caves and Waterfalls, the Bulenga Caves, the notorious slave raiders Babatu and Sabari Caves. He said these facilities needed to be developed to bring revenue to the district assembly.

Mr. Salifu described the Wa East District as the 93food basket" of the region that produces about 40 per cent of the food requirement of the people.

"The land is fertile for the cultivation of a wide range of food crops such as rice, maize, millet, sorghum, yam soyabeans, beans and cassava. The large number of rivers and streams running through the district can easily converted into irrigation purposes", Mr. Salifu said.