Assin-Foso (C/R), May 29, GNA - The government has allocated 16 billion cedis to improve basic infrastructure and facilities at the Obiri Yeboah Senior Secondary School at Assin-Foso in the Central Region.

It is among the first batch of 56 senior secondary schools selected for upgrading and improvement under the government's policy to raise the standard of less endowed secondary schools in each district. President John Agyekum Kufuor announced this when he made a brief stop at Assin-Foso to address a durbar of the chiefs and people in the Effutuakwa Traditional Area on Friday.

President Kufuor, who was on his way to Obuasi to officially launch the AngloGold Ashanti Company, was given a rousing welcome and mobbed by a teeming crowd.

The presidential convoy was mobbed and cheered by an ecstatic crowd of people from the towns along the route from Yamoransa Junction to Obuasi.

Most of them were delighted as President Kufuor who drove in an open Pajero responded to the cheers from the people, the adult, the youth and the children.

President Kufuor said about 1.5 billion cedis had also been allocated to complete drains and other structures for the early inauguration of the Assin-Foso Market from the HIPC Fund. He pledged that efforts would be made to erect a television booster station as well as facilities for the establishment of a Frequency Modulation (FM) station in the area.

President Kufuor said the government was determined to ensure that the restored image of Ghana as a peaceful and truly democratic one was sustained for future generations.

Nana Dr Obiri Yeboah II, paramount chief of the Effutuakwa Traditional Area, commended the government for the peace and stability it had maintained as well as the confidence the international community now had in Ghana since the government assumed power in 2001. "You have promoted democratic principles and performed very wisely in the economic sphere," he added.

President Kufuor addressed a similar durbar of the chiefs and people at Abura-Dunkwa in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District. He also paid a courtesy calls on Nana Tibu Asare II, paramount chief of Assin-Atandanso Traditional Area and Nana Kwame Nkyi, paramount chief of Assin-Apimanim traditional area at Assin-Nyankumasi.