The Member of Parliament for Jirapa, Cletus Seidu Dapilah, and the Municipal Chief Executive, Peter N. N. To-ang, have handed over a number of education, healthcare and sanitation projects to communities across the municipality.

The projects include a newly constructed Junior High School block, a Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound, a public toilet and the distribution of school furniture to basic schools.

The day-long exercise began at the Jirapa Municipal Assembly, where 970 pieces of furniture comprising dual desks, mono desks and hexagonal tables were presented to the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Mr Dapilah assured stakeholders that an additional 2,000 desks are expected to arrive the following week to help address the shortage of furniture in schools across the municipality.

“There is no need in this modern era where pupils will go to school and be lying on the floor to write or read,” he said.

He urged school authorities to ensure that the furniture is properly maintained to prolong its lifespan.

Receiving the furniture, the Municipal Director of the GES, Hudu Kunaateh, described the intervention as timely, citing the poor conditions in some schools.

“Indeed, it’s pathetic. You get to some schools and you see children creeping on their bellies like pythons,” he said.

The delegation later moved to Konkuo, where it commissioned a three-unit classroom block for St Augustine JHS.

The project, funded through the District Assemblies Common Fund, cost more than GH¢1 million.

The Head of the Municipal Works Department, Halitu Yussif, said the facility was constructed by Michumu Company Limited and completed within the stipulated six-month period.

Mr To-ang said the old and dilapidated classroom block would be renovated and converted into a primary school.

He said the arrangement would provide St Augustine JHS with a direct feeder school and help improve academic performance.

The Jirapa Paramount Chief, Naa Dinaa Donglabong Ganaa III, who is also an alumnus of the school, used the occasion to appeal to residents to make land available for development projects.

He criticised families who, he said, withhold land needed for community development.

“When we are greedy or stingy with land, not wanting to release lands for development projects, then who are we hurting?” he asked.

Mr Dapilah also announced a logistics package for more than 1,200 first-year Senior High School students across the constituency.

The package includes mattresses, trunks, buckets and learning materials to support students as they begin their secondary education.

The team subsequently travelled to Nimbare-Kompori, where it handed over a newly constructed CHPS compound.

The facility, constructed by Give All to God Enterprise Limited, includes an outpatient department, a delivery room, a cold room and a two-unit self-contained accommodation block for nurses.

Mr Dapilah stressed the importance of bringing healthcare closer to rural communities.

“Health is life. If you are not healthy, you can’t even farm,” he said.

He added that the facility's location would also provide a practical training opportunity for students of the nearby Community Health Nurses Training School.

The Acting Municipal Director of Health Services, Kaaih Edward, said the facility would support the government's planned Free Primary Health Care policy.

He, however, appealed for the facility to be connected to the national electricity grid to ensure effective service delivery.

Mr To-ang assured residents that the Assembly was working to address the electricity challenge and urged the host communities to support health workers posted to the area.

The tour ended at Tiza, the MP's hometown, where a 10-seater water closet (WC) public toilet was commissioned to address sanitation challenges around the local market.

Mr Dapilah said residents had complained about the lack of a public toilet in the area for a long time.

“The people of Tiza have been crying for not having a toilet for a very long time; it has been an indictment on me, and I said let me honour them, and honour myself, by providing this beautiful edifice,” he said.

The MP and MCE said the facility would require regular water and electricity supply and would therefore be managed by a private contractor.

Residents were also informed that user fees would be charged to support the maintenance of the facility.

The Municipal Environmental Health Officer, Augustine Batung, welcomed the project but stressed the need for households to provide their own toilet facilities.

“The policy of the government is no longer to build public toilets... we have to try to build household toilets,” he said.

Mr Batung appealed to traditional leaders to encourage landlords to construct private toilets to reduce pressure on communal sanitation facilities.