KWAHU WEST MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY PROFILE
The Kwahu West Municipal Assembly was carved out of Kwahu South District as Kwahu West District in August, 2004 by a Legislative Instrument 1589. It was however upgraded to a Municipal status in July, 2007 by Legislative Instrument 1870. It has Nkawkaw as its administrative capital; which is the second largest urban towns in the Eastern Region. It has 214 settlements within its jurisdiction. The Municipality’s capital, Nkawkaw is located about 241 kilometres north-west of Accra. According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, the Municipality had a population of 93,584. The sex distribution of the population indicates that the male population constitutes 44,875 (48%) and female population constitutes 48,709 (52%). In 2018 the population of the Municipality is projected as 144,409 of which Fifty-two percent (51.7%) resides in the urban localities whilst forty-eight percent (48.3%) resides in rural localities.
The Municipal Assembly is made up of 26 electoral areas. The Kwahu West Municipal Assembly has a total membership of 38; consisting of 26 elected members, 10 appointed members, 1 Member of Parliament and the Municipal Chief Executive. The Member of Parliament is however an Ex-officio member. There are 4 women, representing eleven percent (11%) of the total membership of the Assembly.
According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census the Municipality has a total population of 93,584 which accounts for about 3.6 percent of the population in the Eastern Region. The sex population distribution accounts for 44,875 for the male population; representing forty-eight percent (48%) whilst the female population accounts for 48,709; representing fifty-two percent (52%). In 2018, the population of the Municipality is estimated as 144,409 based on the 2010 Population and Housing Census growth rate of about three percent (2.7%).
More than half (51.7%) of the population are in urban areas (47,968) while forty-eight percent (48.3%) reside in rural areas based on the 2010 PHC. This is reflected in the Municipality’s population contribution of 4.2 percent to the Regional urban population, which is higher than its contribution to the region’s rural population (3.1%).The urban populations is concentrated within Nkawkaw, the Municipality’s capital and its suburbs, with the larger majority of the population scattered in rural localities. The population of Nkawkaw Township makes it one of the most compact localities in the Eastern Region and ranks second to Koforidua in terms of population. The urban population contains a higher proportion of females (53%) as against 47 percent males.
Resource Endowment and Utilization
Social Resource
This social resource is the interpersonal relationship and interaction that exists in the Municipality which promotes socio-economic growth. The one such social interaction for which the Municipality is associated with is the Kwahu Easter Festival which brings people together to promote local economic and social development.
Economic Resources
The economic activities in the Municipality include; baking, timber processing, wood fabrication, steel works, sachet water production, transport services, Banking, commerce (trading) ceramics, farming, block making, mining, and services. They present unique opportunities for employment and help promote the economic development of the Municipality.
Human Resources
The human resource include skilled and unskilled labour of which most are self-employed. This human resource provides labour in various forms to promote the economic development of the Municipality. The enterprising human resource offers a huge potential in the Municipality; well prepared to venture into business opportunities.
Natural Resources
The Kwahu West Municipality has resources such as forest reserves, arable agricultural lands, mineral deposites (gold, clay and sand), water bodies and tourist sites. These resources when effectively harnessed and well exploited will promote the economic growth of the Municipality.
The large clay deposits provide huge potential for housing and energy industry.
The arable land is basically used for farming staple and cash crops. There is a secondary forest reserve which is used as a tourist site. There are streams and waterfall which are however under developed for tourist attractions.
Physical Resources
The Municipal has well designed road network, educational infrastructures, health facilities and sports facilities. There are 296 km of road network in the Municipality; of which 10km are bitumen, 52km asphaltic and 228km unpaved. The major Accra-Kumasi highway (M6) traverses through the Municipality which makes it easy to effectively connect all parts of the country by road.
The Municipality has various local economic-based enterprises that contribute to employment and revenue generation. They include; media, markets, sachet water production and hotels.
Economic and Social Development Agenda
The Municipal Assembly in its medium term economic development agenda is focused; in partnership with private sector (Investors) to construct health centers, schools, staff office accommodations, market complex, road networks, lorry parks, drains and multi-purpose shopping mall around the Accra-Kumasi highway. There is large clay deposits for housing and energy industry. There exist potential for large scale ginger cultivation and processing factory.
Health infrastructure
The Municipality has a total of 51 health facilities. There are three (3) hospitals; one (1) Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) and two private. The Municipality has 7 public health centers, 2 private maternity homes, 37 demarcated Community Health Planning Services (CHP) zones and all 37 functional with 7 compounds. The Municipality however has no Government Hospital. The Municipality has 1 nursing training school that offers diploma in nursing certificate.
Educational facilities
The Municipality has a total of 349 educational facilities, 217 are public and 107 are private schools. There are 7 senior high schools in the Municipality of which 2 are public and 5 are private.
Water and Sanitation
There is access to potable water in the Municipality. Pipe borne water/stand pipes are located in the Nkawkaw Township. There are 57 mechanized boreholes in Nkawkaw with 136 hand dug wells and streams.