Ghana Election 2024: Guan - The virgin constituency in focus

The virgin constituency, Guan, is ready to take on a suitor in the December 7 poll but the bride has numerous needs the suitor must be prepared to meet.

With a poor road network, dilapidated schools, inadequate health facilities, and lack of secondary referral facilities, among others, residents are looking forward to an ambitious Member of Parliament who can lobby for projects and development for the nascent constituency.

Created in 2020 after the maturity of the Constitutional Instrument (CI) for the creation of the Guan District on Friday, November 6, 2020, four traditional areas make up the constituency, namely Santrokofi, Akpafu, Lolobi and Likpe (SALL).

With a total land surface area of 1,722 square kilometres, the Guan District and Constituency is a rich agricultural belt with the cultivation of staple food and cash crops such as cocoa, coffee, kola, palm nut and other food crops being their mainstay.

It shares borders with Togo on the east, Hohoe Municipal on the south, Jasikan Municipal on the north, and the Biakoye District on the west. 

Expectations

For now, the whole constituency is enjoying the political campaigns, while waiting for their first MP for the area.

The Likpe Mountains which form part of the Akwapim-Togo Ranges along the eastern border lies in the constituency

A trader based at Likpe Agbozume, Yawa Gati, said their main challenges were employment, health, education, roads and fighting poverty.

On health, Mrs Gati appealed for the rehabilitation of the Agbozume Health Centre to enable it to properly cater for the health needs of the people in the area.

She said currently, both the male and female wards of the health centre, which had few beds, were in a dilapidated state.

She said the centre also had inadequate nurses and delivery equipment, as well as a makeshift delivery ward.

On agricultural activities, Mrs Gati said that the number of interventions put in place by the government had led to the improvement in the yields of the farmers in the area.

She appealed to the government to construct their deplorable roads that made it difficult for farmers to cart their produce from farms to the urban centres for sale. 

Facelift

The Guan District Chief Executive, Emefa Obro Adibo-Goka, said the district had been earmarked for a facelift in terms of socio-economic development.

She, therefore, called on the people to vote massively for Dr Bawumia and Mr Osibo as a reward for what the NPP government had done for them.

“The NPP has given us a region, district and constituency that we should be thankful for. Thus, we should come out in our numbers to vote,” she said.

She urged the people to vote massively for Mr Osibo since he had also done a lot for the creation of the Guan constituency and district.

Mrs Adibo-Goka said the December 7 general election should be viewed by the people as a step for rapid development.

She said with the creation of the Guan district, fighting poverty remained one of the government’s priorities, aside from the existing infrastructure and interventions such as the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), school furniture, street lights and the provision of boreholes, among others. 

DRIP machines

She was grateful to the government for the DRIP machines that were being used to reshape most of the feeder roads, which over the years had been in deplorable states, especially during the rainy season.  

She said their roads were important and strategic, hence their rehabilitation would enhance productivity, and reduce travel time for travellers moving to other parts of the country and the Republic of Togo and beyond. 

Education

Touching on the educational sector, she said plans were far advanced to re-roof the Evangelical Presbyterian Primary School complex that was ripped off by a rainstorm recently because all parents were desirous of giving their children quality education.

The DCE said although the assembly had received its share of the District Assemblies Common Fund over the years, the absence of an MP had denied them their share of the MPs’ Common Fund.

She, therefore, added her voice to that of the parliamentary candidate to vote for the NPP presidential candidate to ensure rapid development.

Currently, the office of the central administration is in a rented apartment and all the decentralised departments are yet to be provided with offices. It is one of the nine administrative districts in the Oti Region. 

Virgin Constituency

The parliamentary candidate (PC) for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Michael Osibo, described the creation of the Guan Constituency, affectionately called ‘The Virgin Constituency’, as a significant approach towards integrating the economies of the four traditional areas in the Oti Region.

“It is an exciting development and a model for the Oti Region as a whole. It also marked the beginning of a collective approach to harness the potential for development,” he said.

Mr Osibo urged the constituents to use their uniqueness to forge a united front to accelerate their socio-economic development.

He explained that their uniqueness was because all four traditional areas are Guans. Before the 2020 general election, the four traditional areas were under the Hohoe-North Constituency, but just before the polls, the people were told to participate only in the presidential ballot.

For the past four years, they have been without a Member of Parliament to promote their interest in Parliament, a situation Mr Osibo said had made people in the area orphans without anybody hearing from them in Parliament.

The NPP PC said when given the nod on December 7, he would link them up to use their vast fertile land and their multiple tourist attractions to break the chain of poverty.

Mr Osibo said one of his main priorities was to establish a solid foundation for the take-off of the constituency. This, he said, was because, over the years, they had been part of either the Buem or Hohoe constituency, stifling their development since then.

He said with the new wind blowing in the constituency, coupled with the notice of polls scattered throughout the constituency, he expected all eligible voters to come out with one voice to vote for him to champion their cause in Parliament, as well as his flag bearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, for a brighter future.

Mr Osibo said as a local man himself, he would work with the youth to revive their agricultural activities since the land was fertile for the cultivation of cash crops such as cocoa, coffee, kola nut, palm nut and other food crops. 

No comment

All efforts to engage the National Democratic Congress (NDC) PC, Fred Agbenyo, extensively proved futile.  

However, during a telephone conversation, Mr Agbenyo said he had decided not to speak to any journalist until the election was over.