Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Volta Region on Monday held a bipartisan stakeholders conference at Ho, the regional capital, to brainstorm on the development agenda of the area.
Under the auspices of the Volta Region MPs caucus, the three-day conference, brought together 17 MPs belonging to the National Democratic Congress, and the sole New Patriotic Party MP for Hohoe, in the region, Mr John-Peter Amewu.
Other stakeholders, the regional minister, Dr Archibold Letsa, and officers from the Regional Coordinating Council, the Regional House of Chiefs, the Volta Development Forum, the Ghana Journalists Association, political parties and business owners attended the conference.
It was aimed at charting a path to harness the human and natural resource potentials of the region for rapid development.
Opening the event, Chairman of the Volta MPs Caucus, and MP for Ho West, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, said the development of the region did not commensurate with the contribution of forebears of the area.
“The Volta Region is looking up to us as elected representatives of the people and we cannot afford to fail the people because our forebears never failed.
“It is therefore imperative that we create platforms such as this, to periodically take stock of our activities and brainstorm on matters of common interest, particularly in relation to the development agenda of the Volta Region.”
According to Mr Bedzrah, infrastructural challenges confronting the region, included poor nature of roads, especially the trunk road after the Adomi Bridge to the regional capital, the eastern corridor road, the security threat posed by youth unemployment and the non operationalisation of the Ho Airport five years after its completion.
He also mentioned the lack of requisite equipment for the effective functioning of the Ho Teaching Hospital, the ‘forgotten’ Keta Port project, the untapped tourism potentials of the region and the underutilised arable lands and water bodies for agricultural purposes.
Mr Bedzrah said “I am confident in our collective energies that we are capable of rewriting the score card and impacting the lives of our people”.
Dr Letsa urged to “make our group a formidable one and bring the needed development to the region.”
He urged the Volta MPs to ensure that projects started by previous governments were continued by the succeeding one to the benefit of the people.
As part of plans by the Coordinating Council to attract the needed investments into the region, Dr Letsa said the Volta Trade and Investment Fair slated for November 15, would set the tone for a comprehensive development of the region and encouraged all to participate.
Chairman of the occasion, Togbega Patamia Dzekley VII, the Fiaga of the Battor Traditional Area, urged the MPs to bury their political differences and move the region forward because “We can’t do it if we are divided.”
FROM JULIUS YAO PETETSI, HO
