By Philip Tengzu
Babile, (UW/R), June 23, GNA – The chiefs and people of Babile, a community in the Lawra Municipality, say they will throw their weight behind any political party or individual who shows commitment to helping solve the myriads of challenges facing the community.
They claimed that the two main political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), had deceived them for far too long and the people of the community were not ready to fall prey to their deceit anymore.
The people, who said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the community, indicated that the development of the community had been stagnated by the indifferent attitude of the Lawra Municipal Assembly and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area towards the community.
“If anyone knows he will want help from us (the people of Babile) then he or she should help us now. If you don’t love us, then we don’t love you,” Mr Zola Dabuo, the Assembly Member of the Babile Electoral Area, said.
He said the community was fraught with challenges in education, health, market, and road, which needed urgent attention.
A visit to the Babile D/A Basic School by the GNA revealed that some school children were lying prostrate in the classrooms to receive academic instructions due to the inadequate furniture in the classroom.
The Assembly Member said the situation did not only affect effective teaching and learning in the school, but also discouraged children from attending school with the worst affected children being the lower primary pupils.
Mr. Dabuo indicated that some parents also provided furniture for their children in the upper primary and Junior High Schools (JHS) to help facilitate academic activities in the school.
Mr Vitus Dapilah Kadoe, the Regent of Babile, told the GNA that both the MP, Mr Bede Ziedeng and the Lawra Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Jacob Dery, were aware of the challenges in the community, especially the school but had “turned their blindsight to them.”
He said the Babile D/A JHS did not also have a teachers’ office, and teachers at the school had to sit under trees to mark assignments and perform other off-class duties while in school.
“The MP, who was then the NDC parliamentary candidate came and had a meeting with the teachers under the trees here and promised us that when he wins the election, he will build an office for us.
“I have told his people to inform him that we are still waiting for the office. I don’t know whether they have told him or not, but I want to use this medium to remind him that we are still waiting for the office, which he promised us,” Mr. Kadoe, who is also a teacher at the school, said.
Madam Theresa Lan-ire, a resident, lamented that the furniture situation was taking a toll on parents and guardians in Babile since they had to buy soap regularly to wash the children’s clothes.
The GNA also observed that the school structures were dilapidated with the windows and doors of the classrooms broken and the floor full of potholes.
However, Mr Sagacious Arah, the School Management Committee (SMC) Chairman, said the parents had taken steps to fix metal doors as part of efforts to reduce access to the classrooms by unscrupulous persons who contributed to destroying the furniture.
The people, thus, appealed to the MP, Mr Ziedeng and the MCE, Mr Dery, who are also the NDC and NPP 2024 parliamentary candidates for Lawra Constituency respectively, to intervene to ameliorate the challenges the community was facing, especially in the education sector.
GNA