The Local Governance (Amendment) Act 2018 which gives a legal impetus to the decentralization agenda in Ghana, charges all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) with the overall development of their areas of jurisdiction in consultations with the citizens.
It is in this regard that the Ellembelle District Assembly organized a Town Hall Meeting as a medium to review and communicate the Assembly’s performance in the implementation of developmental projects and programs to key stakeholders and also invite public contributions towards the district development. The above Town Hall Meeting took place on 12th October 2023 at the Sacred Action Church, Aiyinase and was attended by 150 participants including Assembly Members, Market Queens, Leaders of Religious Groups, Managers of hotels and hostels, District Chief Executives, Rep from the Office of the Member of Parliament, Staffs from the District Assembly, Officers from Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Youth Groups, a representative from GPRTU, the Media, Non-Governmental Organization (Friends of the Nation), Managers of private schools and many others.
Mr. Solomon Kweku Adjei, the District Co-ordinating Director of the Ellembelle District welcomed all participants to the forum and then addressed that today’s event was organized in collaboration with the Friend of the Nation (FoN) to account to the people on the past services delivered, fee fixing for the coming year (2024), show to the general public projects the assembly intend to do in the coming years and also take feedback from the general public and all participants by the district.
Mr. William Augustine Dankyi, one of the Project Officers of FoN addressed participants with greetings from the Executive Director of the FoN. He stated that FoN is a Non-Governmental Agency with a head office in Takoradi and many other offices across the country. He informed that this engagement was on governance and fee fixing which means that the responsibility of the assembly should be transparent to the people for their contribution towards the development of the district.
The District Planning Officer (Madam Ayisha Matuamo) began the presentation the presentation also included the update of programs and projects implemented by the Assembly in the past period and ongoing projects with the various revenue sources of the assembly.
During her presentation, the DPO highlighted certain key developmental projects that have been undertaken by the District Assembly. These projects cut across the various sectors-Education, water and sanitation, Governance, and Health
The District Budget Analyst (DBA) also took the House through proposed fee-fixing for the year 2024. In his brief introduction, he took the House through the following terms as far as revenue is concerned; Fees, Fines, licenses, Permits, rents, and rates. Many of the participants of the meeting shared their concerns, suggestions, and issues that burden them in their communities in terms of district development.
The District Co-ordinating Director in his closing remarks gave thanks to the organizers (FoN & DPCU) for organizing such participatory and highly educative engagement. He then tasked Management to organize more of such meetings as stated by the regulation to enable the citizens to appreciate the work of the Assembly and enhance accountability and transparency initiatives.
He finally thanked participants for their immense support of the program and also informed them to honor every invitation of such a program.