General News of Thursday, 24 February 2011

Source: GNA

Mills government affects Volta Region positively- Network

Ho, Feb. 24, GNA - Oneghana Network, a Civil Society Group, headquartered in Ho, on Thursday asserted that a fair evaluation of the government in the past two years showed that it had affected the Volta Region positively.

Anything to the contrary could only be mischievous distractions, not based on information on the ground. Mr George Selassie Tasiame, Deputy President of the Network told a press conference in Ho that wrong presumptions had always clouded views on the development of the region.

"This government has brought good times for the region with better times ahead so let us see the glass as half full rather than half empty" he stated. Mr Tasiame said reports from the Network's 12 field officers indicat= e that a lot of infrastructure work in all sectors was going on across the region. "Let us avoid generalisation on issues of underdevelopment and learn= to engage office bearers in discussions, exhaust avenues of engagement before putting out half-baked statements in the media," he said. Mr Tasiame, flanked by John Sagoe, John Doe-Gakor, Benedicta Galley, all field officers of the Network, said there was evidence that educational and health infrastructure as well as road projects were going on in the region as promised by the government. He said the free school uniforms and exercise books under the social intervention programmes had 93been religiously distributed" to schools i= n the region and scores of classroom units for 93schools under trees" were at various stages of completion.

Mr Tasiame also listed Sogakope-Fume Road, Kpando-Dambai, Akatsi-Dzodze-Akanu, Akatsi-Ziope, Juapong-Kisifli-Abutia and the Ho-Township roads, which he said were actively going on as examples of government's attachment to its promises.

He said a salt project in the Keta Basin, availability of credit lines for budding entrepreneurs and expected business fallouts from the Volta Investment Fairs were bound to raise the economic profile of the region. Regarding the status of the Network, Mr Sagoe, Hohoe Municipal Area Field officer said it was formed on March 16, 2010, under the Presidency of Prosper Afealety, a Public Relations Practitioner, and not aligned to any political party. He said the self-financing Network was a pressure group, interested in the Region having its fair share of the national cake and would not want th= e issue of development projects politicised.