Amenfi Central District Assembly

Amenfi Central District Assembly

Profile of the Metropolis

The Amenfi Central District is one of the 22 districts in the Western Region. It was carved out of the then Wassa Amenfi West District. It was established in 2012 by the Legislative Instrument L.I 2011. The capital town of the district is Manso Amenfi.

Location and Size

The Amenfi Central District is located in the middle part of the Western Region of the country. It is bounded to North by Bibiani-Ahwiaso Bekwai District; to the North-West by Sefwi Wiawso Municipal; to the South by Prestea Huni-Valley District; to the South-West by Wassa Amenfi West District; to the West by Aowin District and to the North-East by Upper Denkyira West District. It lies between latitudes 5o 20’N and 7o 10’N and longitudes 2o 9’W and 2o 27’W. It has estimated land area of 1,845.93 Square kilometers with 131 communities.

Population

The result of the 2010 Population and Housing Census Western Regional Analytical report (GSS, 2013), showed that the number of persons enumerated in Amenfi Central District is 69,014 representing about 2.9 percent of the total population of Western Region (2,376,021). Out of the total population of the district, males constitute 35,866 (representing 52.0%) and females 33,148 (48.0%). This development could be as a result of the male dominated mining activities in the district and the resultant migration of male youth from other parts of the country to partake in the business.

District Assembly Economy

Roads

Like most districts in the Western Region, the Amenfi Central District has only a few kilometres of tarred roads while over 90% are not tarred.
The district is greatly handicapped by its poor road network and quality. The poor nature of the roads has adversely affected the delivery of services to the entire district. The problem is further aggravated during the rainy season. This has become a major setback in the carting of agricultural products to the markets in the district and other towns outside the district. This also affects revenue collection in the District.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the main economic activity in the district. The sector employs majority (77.4%) of the economically active labour force. Cash crops grown are mostly cocoa, oil palm and rubber. Major food crops produced include cassava, plantain, maize, rice, garden eggs and tomatoes. Food crop production is generally on subsistence basis with output per yield substantially low. This is due to the use of old and traditional methods of farming predominated by the use of cutlasses and hoes with little mechanization.

The farmers face a number of challenges such as poor road network which makes it difficult to transport farm produce to the market centres, inadequate or lack of storage facilities, poor market structures and inadequate farming inputs such as fertilizers, seedlings etc. There is also the problem of low level of adaptation to new technology in crop production by the farmers.

In other to improve the living standards of farmers and to increase their income levels, there is the need to diversify the activities of farmers by introducing and promoting alternate livelihood programmes such as beekeeping, grasscutter rearing, poultry rearing etc.
The District also has a potential to develop Agro-Based Industries. The availability of oil palm and cocoa husk can serve as raw material for the production of palm oil and potash for the manufacturing of soap.

 Tourism

The district has some tourism potentials which can be harnessed to create employment and generate revenue for the District Assembly. Communities with such notable tourist attraction sites include Abira and Amuni. Abira has rocks naturally carved in the form of a human being, while Amuni also has a group of rocks naturally carved in the form of a village settlement with huts.

Mining

The mining industry has contributed immensely to the district economy. This is evident in the number of jobs that it has created for the youth who are engaged in various levels of gold mining. There are many small scale enterprises that are involved in gold merchandise and these have given employment to a number of people both directly and indirectly. It must be noted that gold exploration goes hand in hand with other services such as heavy equipment (excavators and bulldozers) renting. This serves as a source of income to the machine owners, operators and mechanics of such heavy equipment. The activities of these mining firms have generated substantial revenue to the District Assembly.

Trade, Industry and Commerce

The industrial sector is made up of few agro-processing facilities such as gari, oil palm, cassava and wood processing (S.M.S Company L.T.D). The commercial sector deals in trading of manufactured goods like detergents, cutlasses, agro chemicals, cosmetics and foodstuffs like plantain, cassava, cocoyam and palm oil. The services sector provides services such as teaching, transportation, hospitality and health. The district can also boast of a number of artisans such as masons, auto mechanics, dressmakers and carpenters. The large deposits of gold has resulted in the springing up of a number of small scale mining activities, heavy equipment renting and gold merchandise in the district.
The district has three rural banks which provide banking and other financial services to the people. These are Amenfiman, Lower Amenfi and Fiaseman Rural Banks. There is a huge potential for the banking industry in the district since most communities do not have any formal banking institutions.

Social Sector

Education

It has been reiterated on various platforms that education is the key to development. As a result, the Government of Ghana, through various interventions has relentlessly promoted education in the country. Some of these interventions include the school feeding programme, the one laptop per child project and the free school uniform project. It is an undisputable fact that enrolment in various schools has improved significantly as a result of these interventions.
Despite the above interventions by the central government, Amenfi Central District still has a significant number of its population being illiterate. According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, out of the total population of 46,201 people who are 11 years and above, 13,824 (representing 30%) are not literate. This can be attributed to many factors. Notably amongst them are the following:

  •    Few or limited opportunities for higher post- primary education.
  •    Inadequate and dilapidated educational infrastructure.
  •    Limited number of qualified/professional teachers creating room for non-professional teachers to teach in their place.
  •    Inadequate logistics to support educational delivery.
  •    Inadequate furniture for the pupils.
  •    Higher school dropout rate among the girl-child in basic schools.

Health

The district has no District Health Directorate; hence, the Amenfi West District Health Directorate takes oversight responsibility of the Amenfi Central District. The district has three health sub-districts namely Manso Amenfi, Adjakaa Manso and Anyinabrim Sub-Districts with a total of 13 health facilities comprising of Health Centres, CHIPS compound and Clinics. Below is the distribution of health facilities in the district in accordance with the various sub-districts.