By Philip Tengzu
Bankpama, (UW/R), Aug. 11, GNA – Mr James Awula, the Assembly Member for the Bankpama Electoral Area in the Wa West District has appealed to the District Chief Executive (DCE) to facilitate the establishment of an immigration checkpoint at the Bankpama community.
He said that had become necessary following the construction of a road linking Bankpama, a border community along the Black Volta to the district capital, Wechiau, which could serve as a route for unscrupulous people from Burkina Faso to enter Ghana.
The road linking the Yiziiri community on the Dorimon-Wechiau stretch through the Bankpama community to the Black Volta is being constructed under the European Union (EU) €35 million feeder and farm access roads project.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Bankpama, Mr Awula commended the government and the EU for giving a facelift to that road, which he said would improve economic activities, especially farming in the area.
The EU provided a grant of €35million to the government for the rehabilitation and maintenance of 670km of feeder and farm access roads in the Upper West Region aimed at improving interconnectivity between areas of agricultural production and market centres.
Mr Awula, however, said, “Because we are on the border, we are afraid that now that the road has been opened these bad people will want to cross over into the community through that road.”
Violent extremist activities in neighbouring Burkina Faso had posed a security threat to Ghana with the Ghana government taking steps to avoid the infiltration of those extremist groups into the country.
The Assembly Member also appealed to the DCE and the Wa West Health Directorate to consider upgrading the Bankpama Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) facility to a Health Centre to improve the quality of health service delivery at that facility.
He explained that people from neighbouring communities in Burkina Faso accessed health care services from that facility and that upgrading it to Health Centre would be of great service to the patients visiting the facility.
“Because it is a border community, many people come there for healthcare service. So I have written letters to the District Assembly requesting that it should be upgraded to a Health Centre,” Mr Awula intimated.
He indicated that the community had initiated a process to construct a maternity ward at the Bankpama CHPS to enhance maternal healthcare service delivery and appealed to benevolent individuals and organisations to assist the community to complement the project.
“We have finished with the building but we don’t have the financial strength to roof it, so we are appealing to the DCE and the Member of Parliament, Peter Lanchene Toobu and any other person who is touched by God to come to our aid else now that the rain has started it will collapse if we don’t roof it early”, Mr Awula said.
GNA