A twelve-member Sub-committee on Production and Gainful Employment (SPGE) has been inaugurated at Apam in the Gomoa West District of the Central Region.
The committee is under the auspices of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Ghana Decent Work Programme and in collaboration with the Gomoa West District Assembly, and Members are to collate data towards positioning applicants to benefit from the project.
In his welcome address, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Gomoa West, Hon. Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah, expressed his appreciation to the ILO for reaching out to help people make a living for themselves and hoped the District will attract more projects.
Hon. Aidoo-Mensah appealed for funds to restore Fort Patience, built under the Dutch in 1697 at Apam, into a tourist attraction to enable the District benefit financially from it.
The DCE reiterated his desire to work with all citizens in Gomoa irrespective of party affiliation, advising committee members to do same in regards to sharing of jobs for the unemployed, and spoke about enhancing education in the District, promising to secure a 30% quota for indigenes of Gomoa to enable them further their education in secondary schools in the District..
The International Project Expert on Local Economic Development, ILO, Mr. Nii Moi Thompson, stated that there will be a series of training workshops to facilitate the work of the project.
These, he said, included training of small business and enterprises, civil societies, district assemblies among others, in financial management.
Dr. Thompson stressed that the problem is not money, since the Common Fund, HIPC Funds, Green Fund, etc, are available, but rather how to access the funds.
The SPGE chairman, Mr. Kow Anyanful, on behalf of members promised that they will work assiduously to ensure the development of Gomoa.
The Chairman, Nana Obutantan Edu-Effrim X, Chief of Apam, used the occasion to thank the President, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills for seeing to the provision of water for the Apam town and called on all to rally together for the common good of the District.
Source: ISD (Larry George Botchway, Gomoa)
