The Atiwa East Constituency has within a short period of existence carved a niche for itself as a model of a safe and progressive area where residents and visitors are proud to be.
People in the area live with deep appreciation of the peace and security in their communities, including the capital, Anyinam, since it was carved out of the Atiwa District on March 18, 2018.
Today, the likes of traders, public servants, health workers and teachers speak with pride about improvement in access to healthcare delivery, zero maternal deaths, school infrastructure, potable water, road network, educational scholarships, job opportunities for the youth and support to farmers.
Its communities include Anyinam, Sea Abena, Ekoso, Osorase, Krobom, Adasewase, Tiawia Subriso, Abekoase, Ankaase, Asamang Tamfoe, Enyiresi, Fremponso, New Jejeti, Mampong and Ahankrasu.
With a population of 64,647 people comprising of 32,671 males and 31,976 females, the constituency has remained a stronghold of the New Patriotic Party, with the current Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Abena Osei-Asare, holding on to the seat from 2013 when it was part of Atiwa District.
Kwabena Panin Nkansah, Atiwa East DCE
Peace, security
At the Anyinam Market, traders did not hide their appreciation of the secure and good environments within which they carried out their trade.
In the company of other women traders, the Vice-Chairperson of the Anyinam Market Women Association, Afia Serwaa, said: “As traders, we often wake up as early as 2 a.m. to travel to Accra, Koforidua, Kumasi and Bono areas to buy foodstuffs, and the earliest time we return to Anyinam is 1.30 a.m.
“We mostly finish clearing our goods as late as 2 a.m. before leaving for our various homes without any fear of being attacked,” she said.
At the Anyinam GOIL Filling Station, Samuel Opoku, a 50-year-old driver who relocated from Koforidua to work at Anyinam 30 years ago, commended the MP, the Chief Executive of the Atiwa East
District Assembly, Kwabena Panin Nkansah, and the police for working together to foster peace in Anyinam.
Small business traders in the constituency also enjoy brisk patronage of their commodities, including pestle and mortar, oil palm, rice, salt and gari.
A two-storey office block meant for municipal assembly has been constructed for Atiwa District due to possible elevation to a municipality in future
Health care
The constituency has recently seen an improvement in health infrastructure in Anyinam, Sekyere, New Jejeti, Enyiresi, Mampong, Tiawia-Subriso, Ahankrasu and Fremponso.
In Anyinam, the government is constructing a 100-bed district trauma hospital to cater for accident cases, with the project currently 40 per cent complete.
The project, which started in October 2021 and is billed to be completed in 36 months, is being funded with a €55 million facility from the Deutsche Bank. The loan is being used for the remodelling of the Enyiresi Government Hospital into a 70-bed maternity and child hospital.
The Atiwa East District Health Director, Efua Afful, said the completion of the hospital would help the district to cement its zero maternal and child mortality record enjoyed since 2018.
Ms Afful said the area started with 11 community-based health planning services (CHPS) compounds three years ago, but with increased investments by the district assembly and the MP, there were now 20 CHPS compounds, bringing healthcare delivery to the doorstep of the constituents.
She particularly applauded the MP for her role in the construction of three CHPS compounds at Mampong, Ahankrasu and Tiawia, with the Mampong one now a health centre, as well as the construction of an outpatient department for the St Monica’s Health Centre at Akyem Sekyere.
The MP is also credited for donating 10 motorbikes to motivate health workers to go to hard-to-reach communities.
“Today, we also have the Anyinam Health Centre theatre and a laboratory with requisite equipment, which are to the credit of our MP, who also has donated many hospital beds and medical equipment,” Ms Afful added.
There are 127 public basic schools, 66 private basic schools, a girls’ model school to promote girl-child education and a senior high school — the Sekyere SDA SHS — in the constituency.
In a bid to equip students with practical technical and vocational skills, the Sekyere SDA Senior High School has been turned into a model technical vocational education and training (TVET) centre of excellence.
“We do not just want TVET; we feel that we should have a secondary technical education and that is why we now have TVET Centre of Excellence,” Mrs Osei-Asare told the Daily Graphic.
In 2019, the Atiwa East District was adjudged the 17th best performing district in terms of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results in the Eastern Region.
Small business traders in the constituency enjoy brisk patronage of their commodities including pestle and mortar, oil palm, rice, salt and gari
In 2020, the district moved up to the third position and then to the first position in 2021 in the BECE Eastern Regional ranking.
“The district placed first in the 2021 Eastern Regional Mathematics and Science Quiz.
The yearly provision of mathematical sets, pens and one hot meal snack to all BECE candidates and provision of 10 motorbikes to the education directorate for effective supervision and monitoring by our MP are remarkable,” the District Education Director, George Yirenkye, said.
Road network
The DCE said the road network in the district covered over 110 kilometres, out of which 72.20km was bitumen surfaced, representing 65 per cent, with 38.9km un-tarred.
Mr Nkansah said most roads in the capital were first-class asphalted, while other communities had bitumen surfaced roads. They included roads in Asamang Tamfoe, Moseaso, as well as roads from Anyinam to Adasewase, Akutuase to Kwakwuduam, and Kadewaso to Akoase.
Communities where road construction was ongoing were Ankaase, Enyiresi to Nanapa, Akoase to Tiawia Subriso and Abekoase-Subriso-Awosuase, he said.
At Krobom, a major bridge project over the Sea Abena River is 90 per cent complete.
The edifice will link the 60km road from Sea Abenaso-Ekoso and Kwahu Nsaba.
The Assembly Member for Awosoase, Steven Kpodo, commended the MP for facilitating the construction of the bridge.
He said at the peak of the rainy season, farmers were unable to cart food, while children could stay home for as long as three weeks, stressing that the construction was most welcome.
The construction of a 100-bed District Trauma Hospital at Anyinam is 40 per cent complete
Job opportunities
Information made available by the district assembly showed that the agricultural sector employed about 57.4 per cent of the area’s workforce, followed by the service sector employing 34.4 per cent, with the mining and manufacturing sectors employing 5.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.
“Many of our youth and we as parents today now have a future because Abena has been able to secure jobs for them in government institutions,and supported others to start their own small businesses,” the Vice-Chairperson of the Anyinam Market Women Association said.
Support to community
Speaking to Daily Graphic, the MP, Mrs Osei-Asare, who expressed satisfaction with the receipts of her share of the MPs’ Common Fund from the assembly, said she had disbursed almost GH¢2 million to support education (GH¢640,870), health (GH¢325,772), community support and miscellaneous (GH¢1.02 million) from 2017 to 2022.
She said she also had offered GH¢183,135 support to 175 brilliant, needy SHS and tertiary students to climb higher the educational ladder.
She said she also personally funded, used her MPs’ share of the Common Fund and lobbied the Ministry of Education to complete the construction and rehabilitation of a number of basic schools in the area. She also distributed 1,000 desks to schools, distributed mathematical sets and pens to BECE candidates and has constructed and rehabilitated various classroom and kindergarten blocks in the area.
“My goal in 2023 is to commit more funds to support the health sector and to complete outstanding health projects,” she said.
A bridge under construction to provide access to communities across Sea Abena River at Krobom
Supportive DCE
“If you are somewhere and the leadership you look up to are working together, it is easy for the people down the ladder to also work together.
“I have had a very supportive district chief executive whom I once contested in the NPP primary, what I do is I go and lobby for projects and he follows them up and makes sure they are implemented, and that is how we have worked till date,” she said.
Common vision
The Chief Executive of the district assembly, Mr Nkansah, said: “The unity between the MP and the district chief executive is admirable.
“The two of us have a vision that in the next five years we have to move from a district to a municipality, and when theywere putting up a structure for the assembly, we told them our vision, and they understood us and built a structure for a municipality.
“Whatever projects Abena fights for and brings on board, I also sit here and put in my all to assist,” the DCE said
SOURCE: GraphicOnline
