A former radio journalist,Gabriel B. Samuels who is now a candidadte for the November 17 polls says that “through journalism I have come to know the problems of my people and that why I am contesting. Journalism gave me an insight into Bumpeh’s problems.”
He went on to say that “all this was happening because of the bad leadership in my area. My people are suffering.” He stated that “my people are farmers but the subsistence farming is not helping them.” He also explained that there was need for “capacity building of farmers, so as to improve their output. It is only mechanized farming that can solve the problems of my people,” he said.
The former journalist now turned politician also spoke of the worsening situation. “The people also have poor warehousing which causes some of their products to rot before being taken to the market.”
Speaking at a Press Conference, he told the story of his area.
The Bumpeh-Ngao Chiefdom,he said, is one of the grade A chiefdoms in the Bo District and is divided into 10 Sections and 20 Divisions and is made up of more than 200 villages. The area has approximately 30, 000 people. About 60% of the population in the chiefdom engages purely on subsistence farming, while about 40% engages in mining. The area has some renowned schools like the Bumpeh High School, Serabu Vocational School and the Serabu Nursing School.
However, he said, the chiefdom faces some tough challenges at the present.
The colonial bridge that links Serabu to Bo is at present about to collapse. The bridge which has not seen any maintainance since it was built, now has holes and the water could be seen from up the bridge. ‘People are edgy whenever their vehicle reaches the bridge. Sometimes, they even come down when the vehicles reach the bridge,’Gabril said.
The road system also leading to the chiefdom is ‘very deplorable.’ The highway itself from Bo, through Serabu to Sierra Rutile has deep cuts and potholes all over it. The feeders roads also are bad and people now uses a short-cut from Serabu, through Banta Taninahun to make it to Bo. But the short-cut also bad at the moment.
The education system is also in quandary as the schools have poor infrastructure. The Bumpeh high School alone had most of its structures damaged during the rebel war and the science laboratories of both the nursing school and Bumpeh High School have had their equipment carted away. Even though the area has a nursing school, nurses graduating from the school find their way out of the villages, leaving the chiefdom in dire need of health workers.
All this is the worry of Gabriel B. Samuels, the All Peoples Congress Member of Parliament candidate under in constituency 076 in the Bumpeh-Ngao Chiefdom.
By Jenkins Bawoh
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