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Regional News of Monday, 30 December 2002

Source: GNA

I will raise education standard - MP

Kpeve (Volta Region) - The Member of Parliament (MP) for South-Dayi, Dr Kwame Ampofo on Saturday said his main preoccupation is to raise the standard of education and development in deprived communities in his constituency.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on his vision for the constituency, the MP said his goal was to reach close to the achievement of Peki in terms of education adding that such a shift in focus was necessary towards forging closer affinity and understanding with their neighbours.

"Peki has demonstrated its capability of taking care of itself on account of the personalities it has produced and their network of connections," he explained. He said the same could however not be said of the other communities, which tended to view Peki with suspicion on account of the several disadvantages they faced in their relationship with her.

The MP said contrary to the notion among the other communities that Peki had short-circuited resources meant for their development, much of the development at Peki were through the initiatives of its citizens.

"It is the bare truth which must be faced and remedied," if the constituency is to act in unison in projecting its common interests. He said even though his initiative would take some time to bear fruits, its commencement would be a positive signal for the future.

Dr Ampofo said some traditional arrangements, which also tended to affect the relationship between the Pekis and some of its neighbours in the constituency were essentially for "administrative convenience" and that calls for paramountcy by some people, if granted, would remove any misconceptions.

He called on the people of Kaira and Tongor-Ahor to seek the path of reconciliation in order to pave the way towards addressing the numerous developmental problems in the area.

He said the current atmosphere of suspicion and intolerance between them tended to undermine initiatives aimed at ameliorating the harsh conditions facing them. Dr Ampofo regretted that the two communities have allowed trivial issues to undermine their cohesion for so long and called on opinion leaders in the two communities to solve the problem