Wa, April 28, GNA - Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, the Member of Parliament for Wa Central, has pleaded with his constituents to forgive him if he failed to meet their individual demands during his tenure as their representative in parliament.

He said he would take up genuine individual problems for solution but paying electricity bills and buying mattresses for people were outside his functions and therefore those who were in the habit of asking for such things from MPs should stop.

Mr Pelpuo said this when he interacted with a cross section of his constituents at Wa on Wednesday.

He said the salary of an MP was ''nothing to write home about'' and any MP who thought he could satisfy his constituents by footing such bills would have problems because he would not be able to satisfy everybody.

Mr Pelpuo spoke about the uneven development in the Upper West Region and said only Bamahu, Danku and Nakori in the constituency were the only communities outside Wa that are connected to the national electricity grid.

Apart from ensuring that more of the communities in the constituency get electricity, he said education would be his main priority because it is the backbone for the development of any community.

In that regard, he would institute an annual scheme for teachers and schools that perform well in the Basic Education Certificate Examination.

Mr Pelpuo said he had, from this year, started organizing mock examinations for JSS three pupils and would institute a scholarship scheme for students from the constituency who are studying medicine and law.

During an open forum, the participants appealed to the MP to lobby the authorities to provide boarding facilities for the Islamic Secondary School in Wa and also do something about the perennial water shortage in the town.

They urged him to make provision for streetlights for Wa one of his major priorities because the situation currently does not befit its status as a regional capital.

Some of the participants also appealed to Mr Pelpuo to fast track his moves to ensure that the Metro buses were sent to Wa to improve transportation between the town and other regional capitals such as Bolgatanga and Tamale.