Friday, 29 March

W/R: Dikoto, where pupils share classrooms with animals & women in labour've no privacy from peeping Toms

General News
Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Western Regional Minister

Residents of Dikoto, a deprived farming community in the Wassa Amenfi East District of the Western Region are seething with anger over the lack of some social amenities.

The area, which is known to be the food basket of Amenfi East, has no electricity, hospital or standard school.

The story of the area, which has been selected to host tomorrow’s National Farmers’ Day event, came to the fore when some youth of the area threatened to boycott the celebration in protest to the lack of social amenities in the area.

Speaking in an interview on Accra100.5FM's morning show, Ghana Yensom, hosted by Odeeshyieba Kofi Essuman on Thursday, 1 December 2022, the Odikoro of Dikoto, Nana Gyampo III, narrated how his people lacked electricity and other basic amenities in this day and age.

He said a lot of the roads in the area are among the deadliest and most inaccessible in the country.

According to him, the area has no telecommunications network, and the maternity clinic is fenced with aluminium sheets.

He added that in some instances, some voyeurs go peeping at the women while in labour at the clinic.

“This is the situation we are in, and appeals to have the situation corrected have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.

He called on the leadership of the country to come to the aid of the community.

The traditional leader revealed that despite the deprivation in the area, the youth are focused on farming and frown on galamsey activities (illegal mining).

“So, we don’t have illegal mining activities in the area,” he proudly said.

The Assemblyman for the area, Mr John Bawuah, narrated how the children share their classrooms with stray animals.

According to him, the pupils, on a daily basis, have to spend long hours washing the dung of stray animals from their classrooms.

This, he said, is so because the classrooms have no doors.

He added that the situation is derailing the efforts of the few dedicated teachers in the area.

The Odikro argued that on several occasions, teachers have refused postings to the area because of the lack of a telecommunications network.

Capping it all, the District Chief Executive for the Wassa Amenfi East District Assembly, Mr Frederick Koranchie, said he decided to take the celebration to the deprived Dikoto area to tell the story of the farming prowess of the locals.

He assured the chiefs and people that some 1,000 solar streetlights will be fixed in the next couple of days to brighten up the area.

He called on well-meaning individuals and philanthropists to come to the aid of the Assembly to enable it to move the people of Dikoto from deprivation.

Source: Classfmonline.com/cecil Mensah