About 500 children of school age in 10 communities in the Ho-West
District of the Volta Region have no
access to education because their parents have
illegally settled in the Kalakpa Forest Reserve in
the Abutia Traditional Area, where social
amenities are non-existent.
The people have no access to roads, electricity,
water, health and schools.
This was disclosed when the communities in
collaboration with the Ho-West District
Assembly organised an appeal for funds in aid of
a temporary structure for a pre -school building
for the communities.
They are Forsime, Droade, Vanakorpe, Folikorpe,
Vokpo, Avetakpo, Agotive, Atixoe, Xorkpo,
Dadzikope and Dowakorpe all within the Kalakpa
forest reserve.
Addressing a gathering last Monday, the
Chairman of the Kalakpa Community
Resettlement Board, Togbe Amedzake III, said
the people made a request for a pre-school in
preparation for a relocation outside the forest
reserve.
According to him, there had been consultation
and dialogue between the Board and the Ho-
West District Assembly and that a pre-school
was a solution for resettlement.
Togbe Amedzake expressed regret that the
promise by the authorities to resettle the
communities was never fulfilled.
The Park Manager of the Forestry Commission,
Mr Alex Adjei, said the commission granted the
establishment of the school pending relocation
of the settlements, adding that a five- kilometre
square area had already been surveyed for a
new settlement for the people.
Mr Adjei warned that the commission would not
compromise on the laws of the land to protect
the forest reserve and that there was total
commitment to the protection of the reserve.
In an address, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr
Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, said the
relocation exercise would be conducted on
humane grounds, and called for co-operation
with the government machinery to facilitate the
peaceful movement of the people from the
forest.
Mr Afotey-Agbo called on non-governmental
organisations to join the relocation exercise.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho-West,
Mr Emmanuel Bedzrah, expressed regret that
children were still not in school and commended
the resettlement board for taking the initiative
on education.
The Fiaga of Abutia traditional area, Togbe
Abutia Kodzo Gidi VIII, who chaired the
function, called on the Non Formal Education
Division (NFED) of the Ministry of Education to
extend their services to the communities.
Graphic.com.gh reported
