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Agotime-Afefame youth desert town
A first-time visitor to the border town of Agotime-Afegame in the Volta Region is struck by the empty houses in the town.
The reason is that majority of the young adults in the area have ‘fled’ the town to other parts of the country in search of comfort and jobs.
• A woman abandons her bags of charcoal due to the absence of market • A deserted house at Agotime-Afegame
For years, the people of Agotime-Afegame had made their fortune from cross-border trade with neighbouring Togo and also by selling their bountiful harvests of vegetable in ready markets at Ho, Kpetoe, Ziope and other parts of the region.
The massive storey buildings in the town which are now decaying depict lost years of wealth and glory.
In the PNDC era under Flt-Lt J.J Rawlings, Agotime-Afegame was said to be an important spot for intelligence gathering from across the border and that guaranteed security in the town.
Today, Agotime-Afegame is a pale shadow of its excellent past.
For some time now, the people of the border town have been held “hostage” in their homes.
This follows heavy rains which destroyed various portions of the 9.5kilometre untarred road from Agotime-Beh, along the Ho-Aflao road, to the town.
A journey on the road by car which under normal circumstances takes 10 minutes can now take more than one-and-a-half hours due to the nightmarish nature of the road.
In the absence of cellular phone signals, the community which has about 1,300 inhabitants is now in a grave state of uncertainty as the people can hardly contact their relatives in other parts of the country.
The road continues to Kpordzaxo in Togo which is just metres away from Agotime-Afegame, and then to the Republic of Benin.
That international road could rightly be described as an “international ruin”.
In times of downpours the stretch becomes a river course making it totally unusable and further tightening the hostage status of the people of Agotime-Afegame.
Now, the border is still shut, depriving them of their livelihood and with the nature of what is meant to be the road leading to the town, the people cannot sell their farm produce anywhere.
When some journalists waded through the muddy waters and visited the area last month, the atmosphere was a scary one.
The sick cannot access healthcare outside the town.
Plans to bury the dead in the land of their brothers and sisters at Kpordzaxo are frustrated by the official location of Kpordzaxor in Togo.
The road from the Beh junction to the town was constructed in the early 1970s and for more than 48 years the only rehabilitation was occasional reshaping.
In the absence of potable water, the people of Agotime-Afegame rely on River Tordze which according to local residents, is so polluted that one would not even want to use to flush the toilet.
With no link road, no cellular service and no potable water in the wake of little food stocks and an uncertain future, the people of the food basket are gripped with anxiety.
The town once known for wealth has been brought to its knees.
Citizens of the Agotime-Afegame who live in other parts of the country are now avoiding the nightmare in their hometown by keeping their distance from the town.
From Alberto Mario Noretti, Agotime-Afegame
The Vice President, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has called for stronger action to promote gender equity and create more opportunities for women in the workplace.
She made the call in a Facebook post after joining staff at the Presidency of Ghana to mark International Women’s Day.
The celebration was held under the theme “From Commitment to Action: Promoting Equity for Every Woman in the Workplace” and focused on recognising the achievements of women while reflecting on the work needed to ensure equal opportunities.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang extended warm wishes to women across Ghana and noted that women have always played key roles in the country’s communities and economic activities.
According to her, women in the past served as healers, traders and queen mothers who contributed to leadership and governance in traditional societies.
She explained that Ghana’s cultural history shows that women have long provided knowledge, leadership and innovation to help develop communities.
The Vice President however noted that current disparities require society to examine systems and structures that may have limited opportunities for women.
She stressed that advancing gender equity will require deliberate actions and the mentoring of young women to prepare them for leadership roles.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang recognised women whose work takes place in markets, streets and small trading spaces across the country.
According to her, these women form the backbone of local economies and continue to demonstrate resilience despite the difficult conditions they face.
She commended women working at the Presidency for their dedication and leadership and reaffirmed the need to promote respect, fairness and opportunity for every woman.
The Vice President further called on both men and women to work together to break barriers and ensure that women can fully contribute to Ghana’s development.
By: Jacob Aggrey
The Diaspora Affairs Office at the Office of the President has hosted a delegation of African diaspora women who are in Ghana ahead of a planned Presidential Conferment of Citizenship ceremony.
The Director of Diaspora Affairs, Kofi Okyere Darko, explained in a Facebook post that the visit was a gesture of appreciation by the delegation to the Government of Ghana for its continued efforts to reconnect Africans in the diaspora with their ancestral homeland.
He indicated that the ceremony, scheduled for next Monday, will officially grant Ghanaian citizenship to members of the delegation as part of the country’s broader engagement with the African diaspora.
The delegation was led by Erica Bennett, Founder of the Diaspora Africa Forum.
According to Mr Okyere Darko, her years of advocacy have played an important role in strengthening ties between Africa and people of African descent living abroad.
He noted that the group’s journey towards citizenship represents not only a legal process but also a cultural and spiritual return to their roots.
Also present at the meeting was Natalie Jackson, an attorney who is also expected to receive Ghanaian citizenship during the ceremony. She works closely with renowned civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
Mr Okyere Darko emphasised that Ghana remains committed to strengthening relationships with the African diaspora and promoting unity, identity, and shared heritage among people of African descent worldwide.
By: Jacob Aggrey
