Twifo Kyirenkum is a small developing village in the Twifo Atti - Morkwa District in the Central region of Ghana. The village shares borders with Awisem in the Assin Central District. Deborah Philip is the assembly member for the area. The member of parliament for the constituency is Hon. Chief David Vondee.
Kyirenkum in the early 90s was known as a market hub where buyers from many villages and travellers traded in raw food products like cassava, plantain, gari and many more. The buyers transported these foodstuffs to major cities and towns like Kumasi and Dunkwa.
Population
The population of Kyirenkum is about two thousand (2000) people from about 300 households. The population has a high dependency ratio since majority of the population are aged between forty (40) and sixty (60) years old.
Females dominate the population by 52% whiles the males are 48%. Majority of the population have not received any formal education.
Economic Activity
Most people in the village are into farming. Scores of the population own cocoa farms inherited from their parents whereas others cultivate foodstuffs like cassava, plantain, rice and pear for livelihood. The farmers transport these foodstuff to the market in Twifo Praso across the River Pra bridge on every Tuesday and Friday,which is their market days. These foodstuffs and again transported to the bigger markets in Kumasi and Accra to feed the population.
The youth are mainly into commercial transport business like "trotro" and "okada for livelihood whereas the women sell petty ingredients and foodstuffs.
Access to EducationC
urrently, there are two (2) schools serving the community. Out of which one is owned and managed by the government whereas the other is privately owned, that is Twifo Kyirenkum D/A Basic and Wisdom Preparatory respectively. About 99% of the children in this community attend either school.
Although the community school do not have adequate teachers and classroom blocks, it has produced good students since time immemorial based on their B. E. C. E. performance year on year. With the help of an NGO, the school has a six unit teachers quarters built in 2015.
Challenges of the Community
One of the pressing needs of the community is lack of classroom blocks and professional teachers for the school. Many newly trained teachers when posted to the school seek reposting to other schools because of the bad state of the road and the school block.
Lack Of Social Amenities
Looking at the population size of the village, there is no health facility like CHPS compound and as result, sick persons especially pregnant women are left with no option but to board okada and travel about 3km to the nearest CHPS compound in Kotokye. The problem is that, many people resort to self medication whenever they feel sick. Unfortunately, there is only one over the counter pharmacy which is barely stocked with common drugs.
Secondly, the community do not have any public toilet hence practise open defecation. Sadly, some persons have been using the school toilet together with the school children whiles others go the extra mile of defecating in the classrooms.
Poor Road Network
Another pressing need of the community is their road network linking the village to Twifo Praso, Dunkwa and Kumasi. For so many years, the elders of the village have protested about the poor state of their road but nothing good has come of it. The road is so bad that commuters pay exorbitant fares as a result of the damage the road does to the vehicles plying it.
Community Plea
The elders and leaders of Twifo Kyirenkum plead with all and sundry especially the government under the leadership of H. E. Nana Akufo Addo and the Member of parliament, Hon. Chief David Vondee to factor the community into his " Year of Roads" flagship programme and address their needs as soon possible.
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