Berekum municipality had seen a decline in infrastructural and social development for a long time. This had been widely attributed to the unavailability of a substantive chief and arguably, a non-visionary Municipal Chief Executive (MCE).
The people of Berekum had been very keen in getting a MCE who will help move the town forward and a substantive chief.
Luckily for the people of Berekum, Honorable Opoku Yiadom was nominated by the President last year as MCE of Berekum. He got an overwhelming endorsement by the assembly to carry his job on.
In his acceptance speech in October, 2013, he outlined his vision for the Berekum which included but not limited to
Enhancing the Youth in Agriculture program
Promotion of Commercial Initiatives
Providing Clean Water
Tackling the issues of poor Sanitation, bad Roads
And enhancing Education in the municipality.
Just a little over a year after his taking over that office, he seems to be walking the talk. To name a few, there has been improvement in the road networks in Berekum, i.e. The grading of most community roads, the tarring of the hospital road, the tarring of the main station road (Amankona Diawuo 1 street). The tarring of the magazine road etc.
In agriculture, the MCE made a presentation at Senase near Berekum, of some 40000 cocoa seedlings to some 3000 farmers in July, 2014. This was the promise to encourage agriculture.
The MCE on the 7th of July, 2014, presented 8 welding machines and 2 auto-mechanic tools sets to some beneficiaries from the Berekum garages association in his promotion of commercial activities.
He has more or less tried to touch a bit on all his vision for Berekum with his first year in office.
The street naming project has taken effect and it’s progressing steadily. Some of the names are the Hospital road, Benneh road (i.e. the continental road), Amakona Diawuo Road (the main station road), Kwabena Owusu Avenue (old Sunyani road) and more. (More updates on that later).
There is also a de-congestion exercise which is being carried out by the National fire service to help ease traffic flow on the various roads.
These and more are what the MCE is doing to bring back the ‘glory’ of Berekum back. These things have earned him the name ‘Adwumawura’ in Berekum.
Though he's trying to do his part, there has also been criticism of some of the things he is trying to do. There are concerns on the decongestion exercise. Example cars are to be packed at only one side of the Kwabena Owusu Avenue, but there is not a clear car park, which is to be used by cars which do not get a parking space on the shoulder.
There is also a directive by the assembly that people should not litter around and if you are caught littering, you will be prosecuted. But the question is, where are the dustbins to put litter in?
The quality of work on some of the road networks and other project has been questioned by the public.
Although people are not allowed to do the wrong thing if the assembly has failed to honor its responsibilities. It’s equally important to for the authorities to provide the necessary resource to get effective results.
Entering a new year, it's the hope of all that the MCE gives us a listening ear and continue doing a lot more to uplift the image of Berekum. Equally, the public is also encouraged to provide the necessary support give constructive criticisms to make Berekum a better place
