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Tease

1.0 Geographical Location

Kwahu-Tease is a town and the district capital of Kwahu Afram Plains South District in the Eastern Region of the Republic of Ghana. The town lies on latitude 6.9215°, longitude -0.2614° on the southwest and latitude 6.9415, longitude -0.2432 on the north-eastern margin. It is about 180 Km north of Koforidua, the regional capital and about 238 Km north of Accra, the national capital. The Kwahu Afram Plains South District of which Tease is the capital forms part of the districts and municipalities created in 2012. It was part of the then Kwahu North (Afram Plains) District Assembly since 1989 which was split into two - Kwahu Afram Plains North and Kwahu Afram Plains South District Assemblies. Geographically, Tease is the nearest town to the centre of Afram Plains in general and also lies on the eastern side of the Kwahu Afram Plains South District. It is bordered to the north by Dedeso, to the south by Odumasua, to the east by Atakora and to the west by Ameyaw and Aduonum communities. The town is dissected by the main trunk road from Nkawkaw to Donkorkrom, this is a branch from the main Accra to Kumasi highway through Nkawkaw; which serves as the main point of entry to the Kwahu enclave covering the mountainous areas and lowlands including the Afram Plains.

1.2 Demographic Characteristics

Based on the 2010 population census the population of Tease in 2010 was estimated at 9,585 with a growth rate of 3.1%. Also the District Planning Coordinating Unit (DPCU) records together with the Medium Term Development Planning report of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) of 2012 and 2014 respectively estimated the population of Tease at 10,884 representing about 10% of the entire district's population of about 115,258 persons per 2010 census estimates and report. The population growth rate of Tease can be attributed to increasing birth-rate and in-migration as a result of the new status of the town as a district capital since 2012 with the coming on board of migrant workers especially in the formal employment sector, other factors are favourable climatic conditions and fertile soils which support the cultivation of diverse food and cash crops like maize, yams, cassava, watermelon among others. However, out-migration to the cities and big towns especially among the youths is quiet rampant, in the quest to pursue higher education, job seeking and others are also factors that affect the population growth of the town.

1.3 The Built Environment

Spatially, Tease is demarcated into two sections and that is; Tease Old Town and Newtown, and subdivided into about six (6) suburban areas/units. For Tease Old Town, the suburbs are: 1. Kuronkuron/Zongo (Unit 1) 2. Kwabena Tease/Ayigbe Town (Unit 2) 3. Akawuase (Unit 3) and; 4. Ahenbronoso Town (Unit 4). With that of Tease Newtown, two suburbs constitute it, which are: 1. Yaw Tawiah (Unit 5; the largest in Tease) and; 2. District Assembly & World Vision (New Site). The latter being the newest suburb, although people started residing here before the early 2000s but a rapid revolution occurred in the fall of 2015 with the permanent siting of the district assembly office complex and bungalows and still developing at an alarming rate. The Old Town which is on the western side has well planned layouts and this led to early development of the town between the 1960's to the 2000s. On the part of New Town which started developing in the early 1990s, has buildings well-spaced but not properly laid out, because building regulations were not strictly enforced during the initial period of rapid growth of Tease Newtown, this posed serious threats on the land use pattern until recently when the Physical Planning department of the district assembly decided to reinforce the building regulations, thus creating a new avenue for layouts in Tease Newtown and all newly developed sites in Tease. The housing environment in Tease is characterised by good drains with less erosional features which does not affect mobility of vehicles and buildings, heaps of surface dumps have been kept off from the town, zoomlion tracks at the assembly do carry them to protected dump sites in the outskirts, most parts of the surroundings are kept clean with less filth, many buildings with exposed foundations due to pronounced erosion and cracked walls are being reinforced. Electricity coverage in the town is about 98%. The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are responsible for power supply in the town.

1.4 Household Size and Characteristics

The average household size in the town is about 5.5, which is in conformity with the national average of 6; however, the quality of several houses is below average but newly built ones are of standard. The composition comprises persons from the nuclear family, extended family and persons outside the extended families. Children constitute about 37% of the average household. Heads of households are mainly males; female heads are usually in households where they are either single or single parent households.

1.5 Health Facilities and services in Tease

Tease is served by a major health institution provided by the Presbyterian Church and co - managed by the government, which is the Tease Presbyterian Health Centre and is about to be elevated to the status of a district hospital. It also serves as a referral clinic for neighbouring communities. There are other health healthcare providers including licensed chemical and pharmaceutical shops as well as traditional and orthodox health attendants.

1.6 Water and Sanitation

Water supply in the town is quiet appreciable. The main sources of water supply in the town are mechanised boreholes and pipe borne water systems that are common in town, drilled by the district assembly, private individuals and organisations including NGOs and churches. Other sources are streams, hand-dug wells, rain water and ponds. Almost all households rely on the first two potable water sources with others relying on ponds, wells and streams for domestic use. The major challenge with water supply in Tease is the absence of a centralised Small Town Water Supply System whereby residents can connect to their various houses and workplaces for a smooth consumption of water. This sometimes leads to pressure on existing potable water facilities especially in the dry seasons. Sanitation in the community in general is quiet appreciable; this is characterised by good drains mostly along the highway, defined refuse disposal sites in the outskirts, households do keep their surroundings clean by through regular sweeping and weeding of backyards. The major problem has to do with how owners of undeveloped plots within neighbourhoods allow weeds to take over their lands, posing threats of malarial transmission among residents, presence of environmentally unfriendly insects and reptiles etc. A larger percentage of about 85% of the population use toilets such as household latrines, public KVIP and pit latrines; only a small portion of about 6% of houses in the town have modern or internal toilet facilities. They remaining percentage of residents who have no defined toilet system result to the use of open defecation and dig and bury system in the nearby bushes. (KAPSDA, Field Survey 2014). About 80% of households use the public waste containers sited at individual vantage points to dispose of solid waste. The remaining households either manage their garbage independently by burying or burning them at backyards. Others also throw wastes elsewhere which has a very serious financial and health implication. (KAPSDA, Field Survey 2014). The prominent method of liquid waste disposal is spilling in the open, bushes, in gutters and in water ways. Quiet an appreciable number of households have mini manholes with sealed tops at the back of their bathhouses where bathwater drains into. Indiscriminate disposal of solid and liquid waste tends to create filthy environments leading to the prevalence of avoidable diseases including malaria, typhoid fever, diarrhoea and cholera.

1.7 Relief and Drainage features

Topographically, the land is generally undulating. The nature of the land is like a lowland plateau. Coming to Tease from Odumasua in the southwest, there is somewhat a steep elevation to overcome in between the cemetery and Zongo which is about 200m above sea level. The remaining parts of the town is uniformly sloped and their average altitude is also over 200m above sea level making Tease the highest habitable point in the Afram Plains. The town is drained by the following rivers/streams, namely; Kuronkuron in the southeast, Abura Kwasi in the southwest, Kwabena Tease in the mid-west towards Ameyaw community and Nursery swamp and waterway in the northeast towards Dedeso community, these water resources have their respective minor tributaries and the drainage pattern is principally dendritic as in the case of almost all West African fluvial patterns.

1.8 Climate and Rainfall

The area is associated with two main rainfall seasons occurring in June and October; the first rainy season starts from May to June and the second from September to October. The mean annual rainfall is between 1150mm and 1650mm. The dry seasons are distinct starting between November and late February. Temperatures are found to be hot ranging between February and March (36.8°C and 36.6°C on the average respectively), while the coldest ones are December and January (19.9°C and 20.1°C on the average respectively). Relative humidity is generally high throughout the year, ranging between 68.2% to 71.6% in the dry season and 81.6% and 71.6%.in the wet season. 1.9 Vegetation and Soil.

The area falls within the savannah vegetation zone comprising of the savannah transitional zone and savannah woodland which is characterised by short deciduous fire resistant trees often widely spaced and a ground flora composed of grass of varying heights. There are few forest reserves which are being threatened by bushfires and other human activities annually. Some commercial tree species contained in the nearby forests are Milicia excelsa (Odum), Sterculia rhinopetala (Wawa). Terminalia superba (Ofram), Khaya ivoriensis (African mahogany), Antiaris toxicaria (Kyenkyen) etc. Within the town and in various households, one can spot several eco-friendly and shade providing trees like acacia, mango trees, neem and palm among others. Districtwide, the major soils series are the Swedru-Nsaba-Offin Compound group. Dominating this soil group is the Swedru series which are mainly red silty, well drained, deep gravel-free silty loams and silty-clay loams. The Nsaba series are yellowish red silty clay loam, moderately well drained, very shallow and rocky. The soils are suitable for the cultivation of both food crops (cassava, plantain, yam, cocoyam, maize). There exist great potential for cash crops (cocoa, coffee, oil palm, citrus, cola) flourishing under the vegetation, however such potentials have not been explored. The land in this area is susceptible to wind erosion if laid bare of vegetation.

1.10 Geology.

The area as part of Kwahu Afram Plains lies in the southern-most part of the Voltaian Sedimentary Basin, which covers about 45% of the total area of Ghana and extends eastwards into the Republic of Togo. The underlying geology here consists almost entirely of sedimentary rocks; mainly coarse-grained sand stones, clays shales and mudstones of the Devonians or early Carboniferous Age (Junner and Hirst, 1946). Thus the area therefore has geology described principally as Upper Voltaian sandstones consisting of coarse and fine grained massive sandstones that are thin bedded, flaggy, impure, ferruginous or Field spastic and locally inter-bedded with shale’s and mudstone. With Tease located in the central part of Afram Plains, there are shale and mudstones outcrop within from below the sandstone bed. There is the availability of local building raw materials for individuals to construct their houses within these rocks are patches of minerals that are yet to be fully discovered and exploited which would contribute immensely to employment creation.

1.11 Aesthetic Features

The town has some number of sites of historical, scientific and aesthetic values which have the potential of serving as tourist attractions when developed. These sites include: •	Kuronkuron Forest, Rocks and Waterways •	Nursery Swamp. •	Abura Kwasi Stream •	Tomtomu and Kwabena Tease Swamp •	Akonson Forest and Rocks.

1.12 Conditions of the Natural Environment

The natural environment of Kwahu-Tease has changed markedly over the years due to increasing human activities and resultant impacts. The forests, rivers, streams, ponds, soils, rocks among others, have all been negatively impacted by human activities leading to environmental degradation. The slash and burn method in the shifting cultivation practices of farming and bush burning for other purposes including hunting leave the arable and farm lands bare and exposed to sunshine and erosion. The method is also rapidly destroying the natural vegetation and altering the ecology of the town; it has reduced most parts of the original dense evergreen forests parts of the area to sparse secondary and third class forests with others parts becoming prone to Savannah grasslands and increased desertification. Again, the use of wood and charcoal as the main source of domestic energy has also led to the depletion and gradual loss of some key tree species; about 85 - 90% of households use firewood and charcoal for cooking. Lumbering and chainsaw operators also contribute immensely to the degradation of the original forest with their activities on the rise day in and day out. Farming along watercourses has resulted in rivers and streams drying up. The level of degradation of the natural environment and its consequences on the natural resources such as land and water bodies cannot be over looked at. The activities of the chainsaw operators have resulted in rapid depletion of economic trees; if we are to enforce strictly the environmental laws and regulate effectively environmentally related human activities, sustainability of the environment will be effective for present and future generations.