Govt will reduce regional inequality - Veep
The Vice-President, Mr Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government is focused on rural development to avoid rural-urban migration of the youth.
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He said the issue of development was very important and government would continue to reduce the regional inequality by sharing the national cake in a way that every area would have its share of development.
‘’We know that when we reduce rural poverty, then we reduce crime in the urban areas and improve the lives of the people in one way or the other,” Mr Amissah-Arthur stressed.
Kloyosikplemi Festival
The Vice-President was addressing the chiefs and people of Yilo Krobo Traditional Area at this year’s Kloyosikplemi Festival at Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region last Saturday.
The festival was on the theme ‘’Development in Unity’’.
He said the development projects including roads, education, water, electricity, among others, that had taken place in the Yilo Krobo Traditional Area through the NDC government was a testimony that the people could see and judge for themselves, if the government was not doing well and, therefore, needed not to continue for the next four years.
The Vice-President assured the people that the Eastern Region University of Environment and Sustainable Development to be sited at Somanya was on course as President John Dramani Mahama would cut the sod before the end of this year for official work to begin on the project.
He expressed happiness that the people of Yilo Krobo had acknowledged the massive development projects going on in the area which showed the faith they had in the government.
He said election period should unite us as a country rather than separate us, and congratulated the people of Yilo Krobo on the peace that continued to prevail in the area.
Govt lauded
The acting President of the Yilo Krobo Traditional Council, Nene Tetteh Odorkor Tumeh, in his welcome address, lauded the government for development in electricity, roads, water and education from 2014 to 2016.
‘’We must admit that the people of Yilo Krobo have also got some share of the national cake,’’ Nene Tumeh added.
Nene Tumeh said the people were one in spite of different political affiliations and appealed to them in the traditional area not to allow campaign messages to bring disunity among them, but rather unite them and vote in peace.
Nene Tumeh thanked the people of the area for their cooperation that made the celebration of the festival a success.
In attendance were the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Seth Terkper, who is a native of the area, the Eastern Regional Minister, Ms Mavis Ama Frimpong, her Deputy, Mr Joseph Tetteh Angmor, the Yilo Krobo Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Andrews Sodah, and a former Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo, Mr Michael Teye Nyaunu.
Brief history
The people of Yilo Krobo have been celebrating Kloyosikplemi Festival (descending the Krobo Mountain) since 1992 to remember their forceful ejection from the mountain in 1892 by the British Government. However, the festival was not celebrated last year due to some traditional challenges.
