Sixteen (16) cluster farming communities in the Atwima-Mponua District with a combined population of about 5,000, are bitter over poor telephone network services in the area and have called for urgent steps to make things better.
The people are forced to climb trees and move to higher grounds to make calls on their mobile phones due to bad reception.
Among the affected communities are Akonkye, Huntado, Manukrom, Barimayena, Apatrakrom, Kokobriko and Fawotrikosie.
Mr Kenneth Akbapiri, the assembly member, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the situation ?is completely unacceptable and disappointing at this time and age, when information communication technology (ICT), is the driving force behind development?.
He urged the telecommunication companies to move quickly to erect masts there to end the troubles and frustrating experiences they were going through.
Reporters of the nation?s wire service were in the area under STAR-Ghana?s sponsored media auditing and tracking of development projects, an initiative launched to put a spotlight on how government?s resources were helping to transform the lives of the people, particularly the rural population.
The goal is to aid transparency, promote accountability and good governance.
Mr Akbapiri said apart from the problem with the phone network services, their roads were also in terrible conditions because of neglect.
These had combined to make the socio-economic lives of the people quite miserable.
Mr Akbapiri said the difficulty of transporting their farm produce to the marketing centres has become a disincentive to increased food production.
The low returns on output, was pushing them ?deeper and deeper? into poverty, he added, and appealed to the department of feeder roads to rehabilitate the roads.
GNA
