Odumase, Oct. 29, GNA - The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram-Asiedu, has called on the people of Odumase to reflect soberly on the performance of the government and support it.

Addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Manya Krobo to climax the Ngmayem festival of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area, the Regional Minister told the people that the government's performance so far had brought relief to many people and this showed that it was a government that had the interest of all at heart irrespective of their political inclination.

He mentioned the capitation grant, school feeding programme, free bus ride and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and developmental projects aimed at improving the status of the people as a mark of good governance to move the nation forward. Mr Affram-Asiedu urged the people to embrace the NHIS since it was a way for the poor and deprived to access good healthcare. The Minister for Lands and Forestry, Ms Esther Obeng-Dapaah, said a land secretariat would be set up at Odumase to promote sustainable forest management.

She said government recognized the contribution of Krobos whose labour in farming had fed Ghanaians all these years and would therefore ensure that their needs were met.

Mr Obeng-Dapaah, who is the Member of Parliament for Abirem and the only female MP from the Eastern Region, advised the women to send their girl-child to school because the "kitchen is no more the preserve for women".

The Konor of the Manya-Krobo Traditional Area, Nene Sackite, expressed regret that the response to the education endowment fund in the area was not favourable whiles education standard kept declining. He said since its establishment, the fund had helped 85 needy students from the basic level to the tertiary level and could have done better to improve the standard of education in the area if people had responded positively to the appeal for funds.

Nene Sackite expressed concern that most of the schools in the area scored zero per cent in this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) whiles only two candidates in the whole district had aggregate six.

He appealed to well meaning Krobos to help redeem the image of education in the area.

Nene Sackite said since Agomanya was credited as one of the six communities in Ghana with the highest prevalence rate in HIV/AIDS plans were far advance for the traditional council to establish an institute of professional counselling in Odumase to be manned by clinical psychologist to deal with the problem.