Odumase-Krobo (Eastern Region) 1st April '99

The National Refugee Board is to construct a permanent international refugee centre at Anyaboni, near Asesewa, in the Manya-Krobo District. The project is expected to take off after the closure of the Liberian refugee camp at Budumburam in the Central Region by the end of this year. Major R.S. Adu, Director of the National Mobilisation Programme (NMP), announced on Tuesday at the inauguration of an 18-member Krobo Odumase Mobisquads Co-ordinating Committee at Odumase-Krobo. The mobisquads concept has now changed from a voluntary group, which merits no financial reward to a business entity that seeks to create jobs, he said. Major Adu observed that "mobisquads have families, which have needs to be satisfied, and the mobisquads must now be seen to be able to make enough money to finance their family needs, as well as to contribute towards the community development efforts". He said in furtherance of the new concept of mobisquads, the NMP has made provisions to provide tools to 220 mobisquads from the 110 districts in the country this year. Major Adu said the provision of the tools is expected to increase to cover 660 mobisquads by the year 2001. This year the NMP has launched the "Operation Green Banks" project, under which the NMP intends to plant trees along rivers in the Volta, Upper East and Northern regions, and along the Ponpon River, which feeds the Boti Falls in the Eastern Region. Mr Divine Opare, Eastern Regional Liaison Officer of the NMP, said Odumase-Krobo zone eleven mobisquads are operating a micro enterprise project, under which they are expected to raise a loan of 176 million cedis from the Manya Krobo Rural Bank to finance their projects. Already, four mobisquads who have qualified under the project, have received a loan of 33 million cedis. Mr Opare appealed to district assemblies to consider supporting mobisquads in the agriculture sector and to award contracts to artisan mobisquads.