By Michael Kofi Kenetey
Residents of Oborpah Community in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region have made a passionate appeal to government to come to their aid to help complete and commission the E-Block Community High School named Oborpah Community Senior High School.
They also complained of lack of accessibility to potable water, electricity, and a mobile network, among others. The residents made the appeal during a community durbar organised by the Assembly Member of Oborpah Electoral Area in collaboration with a youth advocacy group, Ghana Youth Leadership Academy, GYLA.
Oborpah is a farming community in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region with a population of over three thousand. The community, which forms part of the middle belt, contributes immensely to the national food basket; however, it has been confronted with numerous developmental challenges, such as a lack of potable water, unmotorable road and mobile network, under-resourced CHPS compound, and also health effects emanating from the quarry site in the area.
Furthermore, their major challenge has to do with the Oborpah Community Senior High School, which is almost 80 percent complete but has been abandoned by the current government since they assumed office in 2017.
In an interview with GBC News, the Assemblyman of Oborpah Electoral Area, Mr. James Tetteh Angmor, hinted that the lack of teachers at the various schools in the electoral area is affecting teaching and learning.
He reiterated that the Oborpah CHPS compound, which is serving over 13 communities in the electoral area, is also underresourced and is impacting quality health delivery.
A Fellow of the Ghana Youth Leadership Academy, Miss Marciana Bathuure Babing made a passionate call to stakeholders responsible for the completion of the abandoned Oborpah Community High School to help complete the school to serve its purpose.
The Community Chief of Oborpah, Nene Moses Tetteh Agbertey, complained bitterly about the school, which has been abandoned for the past eight years. He noted that sometimes residents have to buy a gallon of potable drinking water, costing five Ghana cedis to drink and do household chores.
The Senior Community Health Nurse at the Oborpah CHPs Compound, Patience Narh, stated that the lack of hospital equipment in the facility is hugely affecting quality delivery in the area. Data from the Outpatient Department, OPD, also shows that the issue of respiratory infection is on the rise, adding that from January to July this year, the facility has recorded two hundred and 83 cases.
In response to the challenges raised by residents of Oborpah, the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Simon Kweku Tetteh, noted that he is working assiduously to address them. He also revealed that the time the contractor working on the E-Block agreed to come to site elapsed last week and therefore appealed to GETFund to terminate the contract if he still refuses to come to site and award it to a competent contractor who can complete the building.