Regional News of Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Source: GNA

Wa Naa's palace is being rehabilitated to attract tourists

Wa, Sept. 25, GNA - The Ghana Museums and Monuments Board has started rehabilitating the main Wa Naa's Palace that is one of the tourist sites in the Upper West Region. The repair is as a result of the relative peace that is now prevailing in the Wa Municipality. The decision to repair the palace that crumbled because it has not had any occupant since 1998 because of a protracted chieftaincy dispute in the town, had the support and consent of all the royal gates to the Wa skin, Mr George Hikah Benson, Upper West Regional Minister, said at Wa on Tuesday.

Addressing the second ordinary meeting of the Wa Municipal Assembly, he said this development was made possible when the Municipal Security Council discussed the matter with accredited representatives of the royal gates and expressed the hope that lasting peace would eventually return to the municipality.

Mr Benson, who is also the Acting Municipal Chief Executive, said the assembly was not performing badly in its revenue mobilization efforts.

It collected 74,900 Ghana cedis (749 million cedis) as at June this year out of its target of 180,000 Ghana Cedis (1.8 billion cedis) for the year.

He said the Sister City relationship between the Municipality and IEPAR in Belgium was bearing fruits with that city deciding to support the Environmental Health Unit of the Assembly with a refuse truck. A 14-member group made up of school children from IEPAR would also visit the Municipality next month.

He said Zoom Lion has offered a proposal to enter an agreement with the assembly to carry out dislodgement and emptying of refuse containers on daily basis.

To this end, the company has brought in two new skip loaders and 12 refuse containers to augment those that are available. Mr Iddrisu Adams, the Presiding Member, appealed to members of the assembly to take decisions that would benefit the people and not political parties or religious groups.