Mpohor District Assembly
The Mpohor district was established by a legislative instrument (L.I) 2019 as one of the forty six (46) young districts created nationwide in 2012 and also as one of the five (5) such districts created in the Western region.
The district was carved out from the then Mpohor Wassa East District. The total membership of the assembly is twenty (20). This is composed of thirteen (13) elected members, five (5) Government appointees, District Chief Executive and a Member of Parliament. The district has four Area Councils, namely;
• Mpohor Area Council
• Adum Banso Area Council
• Manso Area Council
• Ayiem Area Council
Mpohor District has a total population of 42,923 people consisting of 21,486 males and 21,437 females with greater proportion (74.8%) of the population residing in the rural areas and 25.2 percent in the urban areas (PHC 2010).
The vision of the Mpohor District Assembly is to be a District with people of improved lives and high standard of living in the country.
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The Mpohor District Assembly exists to collaborate effectively and efficiently with all stakeholders to mobilize adequate financial, human and capital resources to improve the standard of living of its people in the District through the provision of infrastructure and Socio-economic service
Location and Size
The district is located at the south eastern part of the Western Region covering a land size of 524.534 Square Kilometers (PHC 2010). It is bounded on the north by Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly, north east by Wassa East District, south-west by Ahanta West District, south by Sekondi- Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and south-east by Shama District Assembly. Mpohor is the district capital and is 19 km off the Takoradi-Agona Nkwanta main road.
District Assembly Economy
Education
About 21,116 people are of school going age. Out of the total population within the age bracket, 14,465 are currently in school. This means there are 6, 651 children of school going age currently out of school (PHC 2010). This situation is as a result of lack of schools within some communities especially the remote areas of the District. The educational facilities in the District comprise of 43 Pre-schools, 42 Primary schools, 26 Junior High Schools (JHS) and 1 Senior High School (SHS). The District is divided into four circuits namely Mpohor, Manso A, Manso B and Adum Banso circuits
Agriculture
The main stay for the people in the District is agriculture. Majority of the people are engaged in small scale farming with few commercial activities. Agriculture including forestry employs about 9,299 persons representing 47.7% of the economically active population. The major staple food crops produced in the District include cassava, plantain, maize, cocoyam and vegetables. The output per yield is substantially low in the District due to traditional methods of farming with an average farm size of one acre per farmer. Mining and Quarrying also employs 2514 persons representing 12.9% consisting of 1,735 males and 779 females.
Health
There are about eleven health facilities in the District with ten in full operation. While the majority is government operated, only one is operated privately. The Doctor patient ratio in the District is 1:21,461 which is very high. The health sector is not only faced with lack of district hospital, inadequate health facilities and personnel but is logistically challenged.
Conditions of the Natural Environment
The natural environment is being degraded as a result of farming, lumbering and logging as well as building activities thus reducing portions of the original forest to secondary. Large and small scale mining activities in the District is impacting negatively on the environment. These have led to extensive land degradation and soil erosion and the development of trenches and pollution of water bodies and the air. The indiscriminate use of mercury brings severe health implications. These activities in the forests are leading to changes in the rainfall pattern, decrease agricultural production, increased soil erosion and loss of valuable nutrients.
Mining Activities generate air pollution that constitutes a potential public health hazard in the District. These practices are destroying the natural environment leaving sustainable development and development as a whole to question.
Key Issues
• Poor Road Network
• Inadequate Health Infrastructure
• Inadequate Portable Water
• Poor Drainage Systems
• Inadequate Educational Infrastructure
• Inadequate Market Structures
• Inadequate Logistics
• Poor Physical Planning Schemes
• High Number of Poor And Vulnerable Groups
• Lack of District Administration Infrastructure
• Low agricultural production