The Gwira Traditional Council has expressed its readiness to unite and fast-track development in the area.
Awulae Angama Tu-Agyan, President of the Council, said it was incumbent on members of the Council to lead the charge to bring the needed development for the people in their respective areas.
He said this when the Council met at Bamiango in the Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira Municipality of the Western Region to review activities of the past year and look at prospects for 2024.
Awulae Tu-Agyan, who is also the Vice-President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, spoke on the illegal mining activities that threatened the socio-economic development of the Gwira Traditional Area, including degrading the lands, and polluting water bodies and the environment in general.
He called on the chiefs and people in the area to clamp down on the ‘galamsey’ menace in the area to help preserve the lands and water bodies for posterity.
He said: ‘What we do not know is that the effects of galamsey and spraying of chemicals
on the land cause diseases such as kidney failure, diabetes, hypertension among others, so anyone, including traditional rulers, found culpable of the galamsey menace will be severely dealt with by the Traditional Council.’
On education, Awulae Tu-Agyan noted that the Traditional Council was ready to assist brilliant but needy students with bursaries and scholarship schemes to pursue tertiary education.
He indicated that two students had already been awarded scholarships to further their education at the tertiary level.
He, however, expressed worry over situations where some parents had refused to enrol their children at the Gwiraman Senior High School (SHS) at Bamiango but preferred schools outside the area.
He said the 2023 candidates performed creditably in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and appealed to parents to enrol their children in the only SHS to help promote education in the area.
The President of the Gwira Traditional Council said as part of the Council’s New Year reso
lution, they would take advantage of the government’s agricultural flagship programmes to advance agribusiness in the area.
Awulae Tu-Agyan said agriculture was a viable source of livelihood and encouraged his people to venture into climate-smart agriculture to produce more organic foodstuffs to feed themselves while creating employment opportunities for others.
Source: Ghana News Agency