Heap of refuse breeds snakes, endangers lives of women, children- Nkonsia Chief 

The Chiefs, elders and the people of Nkonsia, a farming community in the Wenchi Municipality of the Bono Region have appealed for the evacuation of a heap of refuse left in the town for decades.According to Nana Adu Poku Asuma IV, the chief of the town, the old age refused dump now served as breeding grounds for snakes, and other reptiles, thereby, endangering the lives of children and women in particular.Describing the situation as appalling, he said that it had resulted in poor sanitation and expressed fear about an outbreak of communicable diseases in the area.Nana Asuma IV said the town also had no potable drinking water, with residents mostly depending on nearby streams and dug-out wells.In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a visit to the area, Nana Asuma IV regretted that the Nkonsia community had been left behind in development, without health facilities, a police station durbar grounds and other social amenities.Nana Asuma IV bemoaned that work on the construction of a du rbar ground in the community, being funded by the government, had been abandoned for years, with the contractor nowhere to be traced.The Chief, therefore, appealed to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to come to their aid and called on the Wenchi Municipal Assembly to evacuate the refuse dump as soon as possible to improve sanitation in the area.On the community's readiness to participate in the December 7, polls, despite the development challenges confronting the town, Nana Asuma IV said though successive governments had neglected the area, that had not discouraged the people from participating in the electoral process.He, therefore, called on the political parties to remain decorous, and conduct issue-based campaigns that were geared towards tackling the development needs, and alleviating the plight of Ghanaians.Nana Asuma IV said political campaigns of insults, and unguarded statements would create unnecessary tensions in the political space and potentially fuel violence that would disturb the prevailing peace of the nation, and thereby, bring development backwards.'Elections are not a fight, but a contest of ideas, and we expect the political parties to convince us on what they can do differently to solve our pertinent problems', the chief statedSource: Ghana News Agency