Tolon (N/R), Jan. 23, GNA - Mr Alhassan Baako, Tolon/Kumbungu District Chief Executive has said that the district was allocated 8.7 billion cedis as its share of the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) during the past three years.

He said this had accelerated development in the sectors of health, education, water and sanitation and local government infrastructure development in the district.

Mr Baako was addressing a People's Assembly at Tolon on Thursday. He said out of the amount, the Assembly had spent 1.3 billion cedis on education, 1.1 billion on health, 760 million on water and sanitation and 5.5 billion on Local government infrastructure development. He said the assembly had also disbursed 175 billion cedis to 575 students on admission in tertiary institutions and post secondary institutions.

He said under the HIPC funded projects, four unit classroom blocks had been constructed in four communities at Tolon, Kpilo, Kasuliyili, and Tring at a cost of 640 million cedis.

At a similar forum held at Savelugu, Mr Abubakari Atori the District Chief Executive for Savelugu/Nanton, said although the Assembly had invested about 1.69 billion cedis into drilling of boreholes, the problem of potable water for the people continues to be the most serious problem in the district.

He explained that this was because of the difficulties associated with the drilling of the boreholes, saying that the boreholes and wells that had been constructed dried up mostly during the dry season.

On health, the DCE said the district had constructed three nurses' quarters to ease accommodation of health staff that used to commute daily from Tamale to Savelugu, a distance of about 30 kilometres. Mr Atori announced that in the fight against polio and measles, the district had been able to vaccinate about 18,843 children, representing about 90 percent of the total number of children in the district.

Mr Ernest Debrah, Northern Regional Minister, addressing the forum said the People's Assembly was to offer the opportunity to the people to ask questions on issues they do not understand, especially as they relate to the development of their districts.

He appealed to the people to exercise restraint and tolerance in the up-coming general election, saying: "Let all of us display a sense of maturity by tolerating each other's opinions to ensure peaceful polls".

During an open forum, Mr Ernest Debrah, Mr Issah Ketekewu Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and the District Chief Executives took turns to answer questions raised by the people. Majority of questions asked related to health, roads, provision of communication facilities and revenue generation of the district assemblies.