The Assembly Member for Ahimakrom in the Bia District, Mr. Solomon Opoku, has appealed to the government to connect the area to the national electricity grid to promote socio-economic development.

He said Ahimakrom had not seen any major development in the past 50 years leading to the drift of the youth to urban areas.

"As a major cocoa growing centre, there is a huge capital flight, resulting in economic activities grinding to a halt at the end of each cocoa season and only getting better the next harvesting season," he stated.

Mr Opoku appealed to the government to increase the compensation package for cocoa farmers whose farms were attacked by the swollen-shoot disease.

The Assembly Member pointed out that the extension of electricity to the area would attract investors to the area to curb the rural-urban drift.