E/R: The Poor State Of Ekye Amanfrom- Afram Plains

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Ekye Amanfrom is a medium sized community located in the Afram Plains, Kwahu South district in the Eastern region of Ghana. The community is divided into two major parts. When entering the town from Adawso which is separated from Ekye by the great river Afram, on your left is Ekye Zongo and on your right is Ekye Torkordzi.

The Ekye Torkordzi is divided into three main parts namely; Ada line which is inhabited by the Ada’s, the Mepe line Inhabited by Ewe’s and the Tokordzi Zongo also inhabited by the Muslims and Fulani’s whiles Ekye Zongo have the Karachi’s and the Northerner’s made up of the Dangombe’s, Dargarti’s and the Frafra’s living there at large even though other tribes live there as well.

The town has two Assembly men, one at Ekye Zongo and the other at Ekye Tokordzi with each of them having their unit committee members working with them, but as to why such a medium sized community has two assembly men is a mystery yet to be discovered.

Fishing and farming are the major occupation by residents. The community has two government and two private basic schools, and a health center as well.

The issues of sanitation have always been a thing of wary with the people of Afram Plains and as the days go by nothing seem to have changed. The  Situation have moved from bad to worse as time passed by with powerful men in the society having serious problems themselves keeping their environment clean.

Not to talk of the level of erosion in the town that is gradually washing down the township and the hard earned constructed road and market constructed by authorities.

Talking of sanitation, taking a walk through the town one will realize that sanitation is clearly a major problem as black rubbers popularly known as ‘take away’ flow through the town and some get choked in the  gutters.

Want to guess what might be in those rubbers; your guess will be as good as mine. Residents instead of going to the only public toilet at the area resort to easing themselves in these plastic rubbers with the excuse of the toilet being too expensive, others claim the toilet stinks,   and that they can’t stand it. Aside all these complains some also resort to using the toilet built for the pupils whiles others use the opportunity to ease themselves into the only source of water in the community, the great  river Afram.

Some years back authorities made attempt to provide pipe-borne water for residents but before one could say jack the reservoir was closed down with the excuse that residents refuse to pay their bills.

On the other hand residents in the town also claimed that the bills were unbearable that they couldn’t pay. According to them it ranged from 100.00 to 300.00 monthly per household, ”looks like residents were right though.” But then is closing down the reservoir the only option?, when authorities knows clearly that the river is not safe for residents to use. Aside using the river banks and the river itself as a place of convenience, some bath in it too.

Currently the river is being used for all the household chores in the community like cooking, washing, bathing, and drinking as well since it is the only source of Water for residents, and also a source of revenue too.

This is the house of the Assemblyman of Ekye Zongo Hon. Theophilus Avor and barely 5 meters from his house is this heap of rubbish which have variety of animals such as pigs, dogs and sometimes vultures feeding on it. As if that is not enough, instead of organizing a cleanup exercise in the area he is rather mounting a wall around his house to prevent the rubbish from entering into his house whenever it rains.

Does it sound strange or even more annoying in your ears?, wait until you read this. The wife of the assembly man happens to be a nurse likewise her younger sister who are all living in the same house. That same house inhabits well trained teachers or better still one can call them professional teachers but they have all pretended not to have seen what is going on.

Few weeks to the 2016 general elections, efforts were made to commissioned the newly constructed public toilet at Ekye Zongo for the residents, but as to whether those efforts were real and could actually manifest was one thing the residents couldn’t place hands on.

It’s being almost a year since the mandate was given to the NDC candidate there that is, Hon. Eric Osei Owusu and the toilet has still not been commissioned. A visit to the community reveals how the toilet facility is deteriorating completely without any effort to commission it. It is sad to know that this toilet facility is just about 100 meters away from the Assembly man’s house.

Erosion is another big issue that is really affecting residents there. A few meters away from the river bank clearly illustrate how erosion is gradually washing down the town away. The only road that runs through the town is being washed down by rain water and yet authorities pretend not to have seen it.

Not to talk of the only market that most people come from far and near to do business. One would have to take a little rest after taking a scroll through the market before continuing your journey. Erosion have washed down the market completely thereby causing very deep gathers in the market making it very difficult for motorists to use the market.

One big question that comes in mind is “have the market being surveyed before filling it with those gravels?”According to some residents the situation as it is now is far better than how it was a few weeks to election. But they added that authorities quickly leveled the market just to get the votes of the people. In spite of all these setbacks, one most exciting factor is the existence of batter trade and it will excite you more to know how it is being done.

It’s been barely a year since power was handed to the member of parliament of the area Hon. Eric Osei-Owusu and the only development that seemed to have come to the community is the mounting of street lights in the market. I know you might have been smiling by now but not soo fast, wait until you see the condition of the ‘light poles’ barely three months after it has been mounted.

Majority of these poles are already falling off and we keep asking what would happen if this poles should fall off one day.

”One of the big questions I keep asking myself is why authorities have turned blind eye to the situation.” …..to be continued

Source: radiooneghana.com.