Jomoro District Assembly
The Jomoro District Assembly was established in 1988 by a Legislative Instrument (LI) 1394.The District Assembly is made up of 51 members comprising 34 elected Assembly Members, 15 Government Appointees.
One (1) District Chief Executive (DCE) and 1 Member of Parliament. Jomoro District Assembly has 10 Area Councils, namely, Half Assini Area council, Gwenye Area Council, Takinta Area Council, New Town Area Council, Bonyere Area Council,Mpataba Area Council, Beyin Area Council, Tikobo No.1 Area Council, Tikobo No.2 Area Council, and Elubo Area Council.
Population
The District has a population of 150,107 with a density of 83 persons per km sq and annual growth rate of 3.1% (according to 2010 population and housing census). The total number of settlement is 931 and the district capital is Half Assini. Population in the District has increased over the years from 37,685 in 1970, 111,348 in 2000 and 150,107 in 2010. The phenomenal growth in population over the past 40 years was as a result of increase in the birth rate and a decrease in mortality rate over the period. The District has young dependant age group (1-14 years) of 41.3%. The high proportion of children in this age group implies the need for the District Assembly to provide educational facilities and other social amenities needed by children in their development to adulthood.
A developed district where there is peace and prosperity for all.
The Jomoro District Assembly exists to ensure the improvement of living standards of the people through the effective utilization and management of human and material resources with the active support of the private sector, Development partners including Non – Governmental Agencies.
District Assembly Economy
Road
There is a total of 153.9 kilometers of Feeder Roads. The condition of the road network is fairly good as a result of a motor grader purchased by Assembly. Some of the roads in the northern part which were not motorable in the rainy season are now motorable. This has facilitated movement of goods and services. Foodstuffs which were once locked up in the hinterlands can now be transported to the marketing centres.
KEY ISSUES:
• High rainfall renders most of the feeder roads impassable during the rainy season.
• Irregular reshaping of feeder roads due to inadequate funds to maintain and fuel the motor grader.
Education
The District has 315 schools which are made up of 119 Kindergarten, 115 Primary, 81 Junior High School and 5 Senior High School with its corresponding enrollment as follows:
Kindergarten – 10,638
Primary – 10,749
JHS – 7,830
SHS – 2,537
KEY ISSUES:
• Inadequate school buildings
• Inadequate Trained Teachers
• Inadequate Teachers accommodation
• Inadequate logistics for effective monitoring.
Agriculture
- Agriculture is the backbone of the District. It employs between 65%- 70% of the total labor force. The production of plantation and food crops such as coconut, oil palm, cocoa, cassava, plantain, maize, rice, livestock (pigs, small ruminants, cattle, poultry, fishing , both marine and fresh water coupled with processed agro- products contribute significantly to the district economy.
The Agriculture department has been carrying out the following programs and activities.
• Extension Delivery Service
• Establishment of 2 Hectares cassava multiplication plot
• Livestock production
• Farmer registration
• Ghana Agricultural Processing Survey (GAP)
KEY ISSUES:
• Low Extension/ farmer ratio
• High cost of Agro- inputs (planting materials)
• Revamping of the coconut industry
• Inadequate agricultural finance and difficult in accessing credit
• Lack of official vehicle for effective monitoring
• Inadequate data for planning
Health
Tourism
Jomoro district abounds in a number of tourism potential. Notable among them are;
Ankasa National Park
A two-in-one forest reserve, covering a total land area of about 509sqkm. It has virgin evergreen rainforest and is the most botanically diverse forest in Ghana. The park is often classified as the world’s second richest nature reserve and boast of rare botanical species like ‘psychosis ankasensis’. Ankasa also has a horde of mammals, including forest elephants, leopards, wild cat, African civet, bush broad fronted crocodile and chimpanzees and the bongo.
Pristine Wetlands
The major wetlands in Jomoro district are the Amansuri, Dormuli and the Abbey wetlands located near Beyin, Old Kabenlasuazo and Jaway Wharf respectively. The Amansuri wetland in particular, has a great national importance as Ghana’s longest intact swamp peat forest. It is the only forest in Ghana whose vegetation encompasses mangrove, raffia palm, and coconut palm and swamp peat. It is also a wide variety of wildlife, including monkeys, crocodiles, marine turtles and birds.
Nzulenzu (The Village on Stilts)
It is over 500 years old village home to about 450 natives who are predominantly farmers. They live in traditional life which adapts to delicate watery environment in which all houses are built with raffia palm, erected to suspend on stilts on the Amansuri Lake. What makes Nzulenzu exciting is that, it is self-sufficient in many ways and has its own primary school, churches, shops, a walkway (street and alleys) and even a couple of motels.
Beautiful Sandy Coastal Beaches
Jomoro has 50 kilometers stretch of clean sandy beaches which lie from Ekabaku to Newtown, Ghana’s last coastal community on its western frontier. The beaches have clean white sands, laced with rows of coconut trees. They are suitable for hospitality and recreation. The beaches are Ghana’s most favourable nesting habitat for marine turtle which are of global conservation interest.
KEY ISSUES
• Poor infrastructure particularly roads that lead to the tourism attraction sites.
• Lack of adequate qualified human resource to manage the attraction; e.g. illiterate local tour guides to guide tourist.
• Unreliable and unstable electricity and water supply to support the local tourism services providers. E.g. Hotels and restaurants.
• Unreliable and undependable transport services to and from coastal communities.
• Slash and burn agriculture, grassland burning for pasture and the quest for local wood for energy supply within the wetland.
• Commercial sand winning in the coastal areas of the district.
Environment
The District has extensive rainforest which has given rise to timber extraction. The activities of timber extractors in the district have had negative effect in depleting economic trees and destruction of young trees all leading to micro climatic change and ecological balance. The forests are also used for crop farming. The use of traditional farming methods which include slash and burn and the extraction of wood fuel are gradually having a deleterious effect on the natural environment by degradation. Fuel wood is the main source of energy for domestic use. A household survey conducted indicates that 49.1% of the energy used in the district is exploited from the forest. This situation has contributed to the depletion of tree species.
Conditions of the built environment leave much to be desired. Few houses have toilet facilities. The use of bush and beaches as place of convenience is very common.
Refuse disposal is largely by open public dumping. Unorganized dumping under coconut trees is also practiced. The filth from these refuse dumps washes into streams and rivers which are source of water for over 20% of the people.
KEY ISSUES:
• Land degradation (Erosion)
• Inadequate Household and Public toilets
• Inadequate Refuse Containers
• Inadequate Refuse dumping sites