He said the promise made by the New Patriotic Party before it came to government was to bring development to the people and since he assumed office they had adopted the “Okuapeman Rising’’ as an agenda to spearhead development in the area.

He indicated that the agenda was geared towards ensuring that Okuapeman rise from its current state towards becoming one of the best municipalities in Ghana.

Mr Aboagye made these comments at the launch of the Akuapem North Municipality Newspaper at Akropong.

“In serving the people we want their involvement and participation, and we need to communicate to them what it is that we are doing,” he reiterated.

He said the quest to attaining the feat of being among the best five district assemblies in the country would not be an easy one. However, they were going to harness the resources available in the municipality to ensure that they achieved their aim.

Mr Aboagye said his government considered progress and development as paramount, especially when it was centred around human development, adding that, one of the main things that they spoke of as a government was to create jobs and empower the people economically.

The newspaper

The Akuapem North Municipality Newspaper would be published every two years and it is expected to highlight all programmes, projects and activities that the government had executed in the municipality within that stipulated two years.

The newspaper will also serve as a platform to share the assembly’s testimony as a way of ensuring accountability and transparency.

The first edition which was unveiled had the headline, “Okuapeman Rising Two years of NPP in Akuapem North’’, and it showcased projects and initiatives undertaken between January 2017 and January 2019.

Mr Aboagye said the objective of the publication which would be distributed free of charge was to tell the people that for the past 24 months, this is what ‘’we have been able to achieve as we work towards the Okuapeman Rising agenda,’’ he added.

He explained that the newspaper should drive the confidence level of the inhabitants and also ensure that they were committed to fulfilling their civic duties and responsibilities towards joining forces for development.

Mr Aboagye said the first edition captured statistics and data on projects such as the 64 ongoing infrastructural developments of which 29 had been completed and 36 were still ongoing.

Job creation

He said over 1,200 jobs had been created for the past two years in the areas of forestry, National Youth Employment, Education, Nation Builders Corps ( NABCO), as well as Artisans Brigade, an initiative by the assembly to guide the artisans in the municipality.

He said 158 persons with disability had been put into gainful employment while others had been given entrepreneurial support, with 629 LEAP beneficiaries and with 13 additional schools enrolled onto the School Feeding programme all under the government’s social intervention programmes in two years.

Mr Aboagye said the assembly had introduced the Akuapem North Traders Empowerment Fund, an initiative by the assembly to give loans to empower local traders.

He said from the period 2017 to 2019, about 250 women across all the major markets in the municipality had benefited from the fund.