Progress with the Butre Premix Committee

24 May 2010

Last night, Sunday, 23 May, we went with Mensiez to vsit the Assemblywoman, whom we were originally planning to stay with, Florence.  We discovered that sshe was not feeling well and was unabe to go to church or go to her cassava farm that day.  Fortunately, she was abel to discuss the Butre Premix Committee's resistance to following its consignment with the local government.  There was an agreement that the Premix Committee would allot a specified amount to the community fund, which it has not done yet.  We were informed that the original Butre Premix Committee was cooperative; however, the transition to the NDC Government has dissolved the previous committee as well as any semblance of cooperation to the community.  There are three signatories of the Butre Premix Committee: 1) the Chief Fisherman, Frederick Kwase, also known as "Apofohene," 2) the Secretary, Matthew Wotu, and 3) a man in the village known as "Old Man."  Three months ago, there was a community meeting related to the withholding of community funds by the Butre Premix Committee; however, little progress seems to have been made.  We were even informed that the Assemblywoman, Florence, submitted an application to the District Commissioner (DC) informing them on Butre Premix Committee's resistance to concede with its original agreement to the community.  Supposedly, the DC has done very litte to act on the matter, which caused Florence to recover the application. 

Later that night, we traveled with Florence back to the Chief's house.  Julie notified Nana that the Butre Premix Committee's resistance to hand over funds to the community has created tensions in the village that are not likely to go away until the issue is resolved.  It is necessary to have the full cooperation of the Chief, local assembly members, as well as committee members and signatories of the Premix Committee to resolve the problem.

On 24 May, we spoke with Mensiez and Joseph Yankey in the Butre Tourism Committee kiosk regardinmg the Butre Premix Committee once again.  Originally, we were informed by Florence that Phillip, a man in the village that helped Brendan and I conduct sanitation surveys, was a signatory to the Premix Committee.  We later found out tthis is false and shared some information on the committee.  Phillip informed us that the money couldn't be withdrawn without a meeting with the committee, signatories, Chief, and Assemblywoman present.  Mensiez argued that this meeting already occurred, so why is there a need.  Either way, we organised a meeting that was planned for Tuesday, 25 May at Nana's Palace.  We hope to also suggest a committee to be organised that will be responsible for overseeing the Butre Tourism Committee and Premix Committee to see that the funds are going to the community as promised. 

On 24 May, we also held a meeting with the JSS teachers at 10 AM.  At this meeting, we presented our peer education programme.  The teachers were not only enthusiastic about our project, but about the fact that we are staying for so long and making conscious efforts to integrate ourselves into the community.  The teachers agreed to nominate the students from the classes by the next day and we will personally speak ot these students on Friday, 28 May to explain the projects ourselves. 

During our meeting with Forence and Mensiez, we realised that we needed to postpone our community entry scheduled for Tuesday, 25 May because of a funeral.  It will be rescheduled for next Tuesday, 1 June, so the fishermen are able to be present.