Offinso District

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Offinso District
Location of the Offinso district within the Ashanti region
country GhanaGhana Ghana
region Ashanti region
Capital Offinso New Town
District shape common
District Chief Executive Collins Ntim
surface 1,451 km²
population 138,190 (2000)
Population density 95 Ew. / km²
ISO 3166-2 GH.AH.OF

The Offinso District is one of 138 districts in Ghana . It is located in the center of Ghana in the Ashanti region and is one of 21 regional districts there. The Offinso District borders the Atwima Nwabiagya , Ahafo Ano South , Afigya Sekyere and Ejura / Sekyedumase districts . The Offinso District is located on the western border of the Ashanti Region and thus borders the districts of Tano North , Tano South , Sunyani Municipal , Techiman Municipal , Wenchi and Nkoranza in the Brong-Ahafo Region .

The chief executive of the 1,451 km² district with approx. 138,190 inhabitants is Collins Ntim , based in the district capital Offinso New Town .

geography

The entire district is at an altitude between 200 m and 300 m above sea level. During the two rainy phases in the year, an annual rainfall of 1700 mm falls in the south and 1500 mm in the north.

The vegetation in the district mainly consists of semi-evergreen wet forest, in which hardwoods such as the Odum tree , Wawa, Cedar and the like, which are coveted for export , grow. A total of 704.94 km² of the district are involved in forestry. So far, 8 forest reserves have already been established in Afram, Afrensu-Borohoma, Asubina, Mankrug, Asufu West, Asufu East, Kwamisa and Opro River Forest Reserves.

population

The population in the district consisted of 43,972 people in 1960, in 1970 the district had 56,319 inhabitants, in 1984 104,815. The 2000 census counted 138,190 people in the district. Overall, therefore, an average population growth of 5 percent between 1984 and 2000 is recorded, which means that the district is well above the regional average of 3.4 percent population growth. Over 80 percent of the population belong to the Ashanti people .

Of the 126 settlements, only five have a population of over 5,000. The city has New Offinso 36,190 inhabitants, Akomadan 14,018 inhabitants, Abofour 11,177 inhabitants, Nkenkaasu 10,014 inhabitants and Afrancho 7,727. All of these urban settlements have a high rate of population growth due to migratory movements.

An average household consists of 5.5 people, 37.3 percent of whom are children. 68 percent of the population are Christians, 15.9 percent Muslim, 8.5 percent followers of traditional religions and 6.3 percent belong to other or no religion.

The total population is distributed 57.8 percent in urban settlements and 43.8 percent in rural settlements. The national comparison value for urban settlements is 56.2 percent.

In 2000, 46.6 percent of the total population were under fifteen years of age, 47 percent were of working age between 15 and 64 years of age, and 6.4 percent were over 64 years of age.

With the Offinsohene a chief (Paramount Chief) has his traditional seat of power in the district.

politics

The District Assembly of the Offinso District is the highest administrative and political body. The Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462) gave the district assembly extensive local responsibility.

The highest office in the district is held by the chief executive as head of administration and the highest political office. The district assembly consists of 71 members, 48 ​​of whom are elected and a further 21 are appointed by the government and two members of parliament come from the two constituencies. The district assembly has specialist committees in the areas of finance and administration, work, social services, development planning, justice and security, and environmental ), Trade and Investment, Agriculture, and Women's Affairs.

Further council structures have emerged in the district. The district administration is supported in 5 city councils (Offinso, Akomadan, Nkenkaasu Abofour and Afrancho) and 4 district councils (Samproso, Bonsua, Asuoso and Nsenoa). These nine councils are in turn divided into 118 parishes. Only the council in Nsenoa has not set up its own offices; all councils do not have enough staff to cope with the tasks.

Six police stations in the five cities of Offinso, Afrancho, Abofour, Akomadan and Nkenkaasu are entrusted with the security of the district.

economy

The economy in the district is dominated by agriculture, but a large number of employees are also active in the service sector and in industry.

Over 70 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture. Food is grown annually on an area of ​​24,000 hectares, 23,500 hectares lie fallow every year. Mainly cassava , corn , rice , plantains , palm oil , cocoa , cashew and vegetables are grown.

Infrastructure

The district capital Offinsio New Town is located on a nationally important transport route between Kumasi and Techiman . A large number of side streets open up the district.

So far, 45 percent of the municipalities have access to electricity through a connection to the national grid. Six police stations and a police headquarters are located in the district.

health

In 2005, 16,391 people were looked after by a doctor, 1,707 people were cared for by a nurse. Child mortality is 4.6 percent and maternal mortality is 0.0002 percent.

Malaria infection is the leading cause of death among children under 5 and pregnant women . Overall, 58 percent of all registered cases of illness are due to malaria.

education

So far 44 kindergartens, 95 elementary schools, 48 junior secondary schools (JSS) and four senior secondary schools have been opened in the district. In the kindergartens there are 19 children per educator, in the primary schools there are an average of 28 children in a class and in the JSS one teacher looks after an average of 16 young people. There is a Teacher Training College in Offinso.

Of all kindergartens, 52 are public institutions and 44 are privately organized. Among the primary schools, 94 are public schools and 42 are private schools. Of all the JSS, 52 are public schools and 15 are private institutions. Higher education in the district is provided by the Dwamena Akenten School in Offinso, Namong Sec-Tech, St. Jerome in Abofour and the Akomadan Secondary School.

Constituencies

Two constituencies, Offinso South and Offinso North, were established in the Offinso district. In the constituency of Offinso South, Sarfoh Kwabena won a seat in the Ghanaian parliament for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2004 general election. Kofi Konadu Apraku was elected by the NPP for the constituency of Offinso North .

Important localities

See also

Web links