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Wassa Amenfi West District ranked fourth with 96 COVID-19 cases
Residents in the Wassa Amenfi West District of the Western Region have expressed worry as the area is gradually gaining status as a hotspot for the COVID 19 pandemic.
There is no isolation centre in the district to quarantine those with COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, the danger is that, all the affected victims or persons are walking free on the streets, The Spectator gathered, and there are genuine fears that the situation might worsen.
According to the Regional Situation Report (SITREP), Wassa Amenfi West now ranked fourth on the COVID-19 pandemic with 96 positive cases, as of Tuesday, June 30. Sekondi -Takoradi ranked first with 573 positive cases, followed by Tarkwa -Nsuaem with 465 and Effia-Kwesimintsim,198.
The report generally indicated that Wassa Amenfi West COVID cases initially, in April 2, tallied zero positive, moved to one case in June 5, and has since shot up with 178 negative cases while 178 cases are also pending, within the period.
So far, the district had reported 170 suspected cases, 280 contact cases traced with 452 samples taken.
Responding to public concerns in an interview with journalists, the District Director of Health, Mary Magdalene Arthur, said the number of cases recorded did not show a failure on the part of the health team.
She explained that the efforts of the health team had reduced the number of COVID 19 cases in the area.
“This is not a failure on the part of the health team and the Regional Health Directorate will testify. We are, indeed, on the ground working. But the key challenge is where to send confirmed cases for isolation. It behoves on the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) and his team to do that. We are still waiting,” she said.
The MCE, Mr George Agyiri, on his part, also argued that, in April, when the COVID -19 pandemic swept the country, government directed all districts to construct isolation centers, but, this, he added, could not be done within a short period.
He said, the assembly decided to solicit the assistance of hotels in the district and other areas or hire completed houses to help reduce the spread of the virus.
However, most businesses had declined the offer.
“We have been making efforts to build an isolation centre, but in the interim, we need to hire hotels, but due to stigmatisation, the owners have declined.” Mr Agyiri told journalists.
The situation, he said, posed a challenge to COVID-19 emergencies.
From Clement AdzeiBoye, Takoradi
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
