A Town Hall Meeting, which was aimed at creating avenues for deepening democracy and offering accountability by government to its citizens at the district levels, was held yesterday at Menekpo in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal.
In collaboration with the Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly, Diocesan Justice & Peace Commission of the Roman Catholic Church Ghana has offered opportunities for open interactions between some government officials and the people.
Meanwhile, the coordinator Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission in Lower Manya, Mr. James Awumey speaking under the theme of the pprogramme, “Community Participation in Local Governance For Rapid and Sustainable Development”, called on citizenry to participate in the governance of the country.
Participants
According to the Municipal CHRAJ boss, governance basically takes place at local level; however, most, of the people were not aware of their role and therefore cannot demand accountability from duty bearers.
He has however, commended the MCE for Lower Manya on his responsiveness towards the plight of his citizens.
Addressing participants, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the area, Honourable Simon Kweku Tetteh, enumerated some major developmental projects and also addressed some key concerns of the public.
According to the MCE, the implementation of the $1-million per constituency pledge under the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) enabled him construct toilet for some second cycle and junior high schools in the municipality.
Classroom infrastructure for both basic and senior high schools, 9 bedroom teachers’ bungalow at Oborpa Jerkiti, boreholes for deprived communities and over 50 at least 12-seater ultra-modern toilet facilities that are at various stages of completion across the municipality were some other projects his leadership has accomplished.
Future Plan
Managing a population of about 108, 000 amidst a little over Ghc2b debt by the previous government, the MCE has outlined to cut sod for construction of 4 separate toilet facilities and extension of electricity to the outskirt communities of Kodjonya and Menekpo as well as the speed ramp at the Millennium Presby Basic School.
Participants at the forecourt of Millennium Presby School
The MCE has also assured the public of his Assembly’s readiness for the renovation of the Agormanya Market into an ultra-modern market in the next few months. According to him, 100 lockable stores, police station, school and banking halls would be featured in his new market project.
Meanwhile, Hon. Simon Kweku Tetteh has appealed to the residents to pay their property rates as well as other legitimate levies to enable him bring more development projects into the municipality.
Environmental Health and Sanitation
Mr. Gordon Amevor, the Sanitation and Environmental Health Director of the municipal hinted that a research, conducted by his outfit revealed that about 75% of health cases in the municipality are as a result of poor sanitation management.
He cited poor drainage system, high refuse generation, open defecation, indiscriminate disposal of refuse and poor or limited toilet facility as variable scores to his assertion.
Mr. Felix Henyo, the just predecessor to Mr. Gordon Amevor has in 2018 told Rite FM, the entire municipality can boast of only 1, 827 toilet facilities of all classes and 19 zoomlion refuse containers.
Mr. Gordon Amevor, Environmental Health and Sanitation Director
The Upcoming Referendum
Government has stated that its commitment to see to a constitutional election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) is on course.
To this end, it has indicated that the Electoral Commission (EC) has set Tuesday, December 10, 2019, for a referendum for the polls.
A former director at National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr. Paul Lawer who was addressing the forum explained to them the roadmap on the election of MMDCE come December, 2019.
The roadmap on the election of MMDCE has been designed to be implemented in four (4) phases: Pre-Referendum Phase, Referendum Phase, Post Referendum Phase, Change Management and Capacity Building Phase”, she stated.
Ghana has implemented the current decentralisation and local government system since 1988. Though significant progress has been made, there are a few grey areas that require improvement for participatory governance and local democracy to be deepened.
One of such grey areas is the need to popularly elect Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) on a partisan basis to be in tandem with the mode of electing national level leaders.
Concerns Of The Public
The participants were given the opportunity to voice out their concerns and views.
Key among the concerns was the completion and future of the Community Day SHS otherwise known as E-Block started by erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government and limited refuse containers in the municipality.
Mr. Simon Kweku Tetteh maintained that since he assumed office, all communication including letters to get the contractor back to site proved unsuccessful.
But he assured that his government is working hard to get work on the project continue.
Source: ritefmonline.org
