Gbarpolu County – Gbarpolu County’s District one Representative, Mr. Alfred G. Koiwood, is keened on improving the underprivileged development status of his county, placing deep concentration on capacity building.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah – [email protected]
The lawmaker said capacity building is important for his people, especially where there is no vocational school in the county.
In a FrontPageAfrica interview Monday, Rep. Koiwood said the lack of vocational education in Gbarpolu, is creating some level of setback for his people in the past.
This, the lawmaker said prompted him to established a vocational school, the Alfred G. Koiwood Vocational Institute for his people immediately during his first term of representation.
Since 2011, Koiwood said his vocational school has been operating in the area of computer science and driving, in which several students have benefited from professional training in such areas.
These skills attained, according to him, are now used by the beneficiary to help improve their lives while in pursue of college education.
“That alone is a conduit for those who want to specialize in specific skills while in university, because leaving from Gbarpolu and going to attend university in Monrovia is very serious, when you don’t have any source of income,” Koiwood said.
According to him, the institution, over the weekend graduated 30 students, who have been undergoing skills training for a six-month period in the areas of driving and computer science.
These students, the lawmaker noted, are from far to reach areas and have seen the vocational institution as a possible means of achieving further education after high school.
“In Gbarpolu, we have few high schools. After bulk of the students graduate from high school, there is no technical vocational institutions available, so I established that school where student paid little amount to enroll,” Koiwood added.
The county’s representative indicated that Gbarpolu is currently faced with health, education and road challenges, something he named as his major concern.
Though according to him, several roads in the county were recondition during his first-term legislative bid, the need to further improve on others including healthcare facilities is a concerned.
“This is my second term and I have lot of unfinished projects in Gbarpolu. I will make sure that all these projects are completed,” Koiwood stressed.
On another thing, he emphasized the importance of providing safe drinking water for the people of Gbarpolu, an initiative the lawmaker believes would curtail the spread of water borne diseases amongst inhabitants.
Rep. Koiwood has also assured his people of President George Weah’s commitment to bring massive development to the county.
“I want to tell my people to be patient and not to expect too soon, because what they did for the CDC, by producing more votes for the first time has served as a gateway for massive development in the county.