Yendi, (N/R), June 13, GNA - Mr Jonathan Richardson, Australian High Commissioner in Ghana, on Monday opened a branch of Fusion International Centre in Ghana and commissioned a water system at the cost of 140 million cedis for the Guntingli community, a suburb of Yendi.

Fusion International is a leading Australia-based youth and community development organisation and the opening of its centre in Yendi would provide training and capacity building to local volunteers to enable them to contribute to the development of the community. Fusion Ghana's stated commitment is to bring practical responses to local needs, such as community health education.

Personnel trained at the Centre will be able to visit local villages to do research and engage villagers in the promotion of awareness on basic health issues and bring support to them. Mr Richardson said the Australian High Commission was supporting the creation of the Centre by funding water supply through the provision of a 10,000-litre tank and submersible pump connected to a borehole. He said the borehole would make clean water available to the Fusion Centre as well as to the local community in the Guntingli area of Yendi. Mr Richardson said Australia and Ghana had had long-standing and fruitful relationship and shared similar values such as belonging to the Commonwealth and believing in the tenets of democracy.

He commended the government for the significant improvement it had made in the economy and the deepening of democracy and the rule of law and observed that the people of Ghana were very tolerant and that was why the county was succeeding in its democratic practice.

Mr Richardson noted that Ghana was blessed with a rich culture and that even though the people belonged to different ethnic groups and religions they co-existed peacefully.

Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani, Yendi District Chief Executive, commended the Australian High Commission for its assistance in the provision of water to the people in Guntingli and said it would help lessen the burden on women and reduce the time wasted in search of water and promote good health.

He said the provision of potable water would further promote girl-child education since girls would no longer spend too much of their time looking for water to the detriment of going to school punctually. Alhaji Tijani announced that the District Assembly would soon construct a 12-seater Aqua privy place of convenience for the Guntingli area and appealed to other stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to support the promotion of household places of convenience. Earlier in the day, Mr Richardson was led by Alhaji Tijani to pay homage to the regent of Yendi, Kampakuya-Na Abdulai Yakubu.

Na Yakubu commended the Australian High Commission on its intervention to provide water for the people in the area and appealed for similar support in the areas of education and health. He assured the High Commissioner that he would cooperate with other stakeholders to bring lasting peace to Dagbon.