Bole MP Commends GIFEC As Communities Get Hooked To Telecom Network

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bole- Bamboi Constituency of the Savannah Region Alhaji Yusif Sulemana has commended the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) as Telecommunication masts have been constructed in a number of communities in his constituency with the latest being the Maluwe community.

Speaking to Bole based Nkilgi Fm, the MP said Bole District has an estimated population of 61,593 (2017) with many economic activities such as Commercial farming, carving, petty trading, fishing, food processing, animal rearing, small scale gold mining and others but the absence of telephone network in some areas affects the said economic activities thereby causing the Youth especially the girl child to migrate to urban areas with its related negative impacts.

Hon Alhaji Yusif Suleman said during his rounds of the constituency before his election as the MP, one of the most notable challenges he noticed in a number of communities was the absence of Telecommunication network.

“Accordingly, since entering Parliament in 2017, I wrote to the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) and copied the Deputy Minister for Communication requesting the construction of Telecommunication Masts in communities like Mankuma, Dakrupe, Maluwe, Tesilema, Chibrenyo, and Babato”; the MP disclosed.

According to Hon Sulemana, he filed a question in Parliament asking the Minister of Communication when mobile network connectivity will be extended to the above-listed communities and the question was answered by the then Deputy Minister of Communication.

“These yielded positive results because construction started and finished in Mankuma and Dakrupe and also began in Maluwe. Subsequently, I filed another question for the Minister of Communication to explain when the construction of the masts in the remaining communities will be done and I was assured that the construction was being undertaken sequentially; beginning from Mankuma and moving southwards”; the MP explained.

The Bole MP said his checks indicate that the construction in Maluwe has also been completed and he intends to file another question and to continue pushing until all the remaining areas are also connected”.

The Ghana Investment Fund For Electronic Communications (GIFEC) provide financial resources for the establishment of universal service and access for all communities and facilitate the provision of basic telephony, internet, multimedia broadband and broadcasting services to these communities.

GIFEC has embarked on a massive drive to extend Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects to rural communities and has a partnership with Vodafone Ghana to support the deployment of telecommunication network connectivity for unconnected rural communities and the project focuses on specific rural areas that lack telephone connectivity but have economic potential.

Communities like Mankuma, Dakurpe, and Maluwe in the Bole District have far benefited.