The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Bede Ziedeng, has appealed to sons and daughters of the region to come back and assist in transforming the region, which is a young one with vast potential.
He regretted the falling standards of education and high rate of infant and maternal mortality in the region due to the refusal of teachers and medical officers, among other professionals to accept postings there.
The minister stated this when a medical officer at the Lawra District Hospital in the Upper West Region, Dr Sabastine Sandaare, was honoured by the Lawra District Assembly for spending all his life in the district, serving people in the region.
Dr Sandaare had practised for 15 years in the region upon graduating from the Ghana Medical School.
Bestowing the honour on the medical officer during the first ordinary session of the Lawra District Assembly at Lawra, the Upper West regional minister said Dr Sandaare was chosen because he, out of the large number of people from the region, had devoted his life to the people.
Mr Ziebeng said this was against the fact that other medical officers and workers from the region had refused postings there, calling it a deprived area.
Dr Sandaare, in addition to his numerous duties, serves as the Presiding Member (PM) of the Lawra District Assembly.
In his sessional address, the Lawra District Chief Executive, Mr Paschal Baylon Dere, said to halt the falling standards of education and high rate of teenage pregnancy, the assembly had targeted 50 per cent pass in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) this academic year.
This, Mr Dere said, would be achieved through a motivation package for teachers and the organisation of free Saturday classes for the BECE candidates from April 19 to June 7, this year.
"The monitoring exercise is intended to monitor teacher absenteeism, improve upon our 2013 performance of 24.7 per cent pass rate to a target of 50 per cent pass rate in the 2014 BECE exams and chart the way forward," the DCE said. He, thus, called on parents and guardians to assist in the exercise.
On revenue generation, he was happy to announce that the assembly had made a modest excess on the first quarter estimate. He said out of an estimated GH¢18,050.00 of its internally generated funds, the assembly grossed GH¢19,260.92. The DCE, therefore, appealed to the assembly members to increase their efforts to bring in more revenue to the assembly. He mentioned various projects the assembly had tackled, including the construction of a surgical ward and morgue for the hospital and a CHPS compound at Bagri.
Mr Baylon Dere said as a revenue-generating venture, the assembly hoped to rehabilitate a building which served as the prison site of the first President of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, into a tourist attraction.
