Enhance inclusiveness at all levels of governance - Oppong Nkrumah tasks MMDAs
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been tasked to place premium on enhancing inclusive and participatory governance.
The charge means the MMDAs have to organise frequent town hall meetings to bring to their publics, information on government programmes, policies and activities, as well as updates on all of their sector programmes.
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The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, gave the directive in an address read on his behalf by the Acting Director of the Information Services Department (ISD), Mr Charles Wereku at the Upper Manya Krobo District Town Hall Meeting held at Asesewa, the district capital on the theme: “Accounting to the People: Two and half years of good governance in Upper Manya Krobo District”.
According to Mr Nkrumah, the institution of town hall meetings reflected the government’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals 16 and 17 which placed a high premium on enhancing inclusiveness and participatory democracy at all levels of governance.
Providing a platform
“Perhaps the most critical function of these town meetings is to provide a platform for possible modification and re-shaping of government policies, especially its social intervention programmes,” he said.
He hinted that in furtherance of the government’s efforts at creating a well-informed public to engender greater public appreciation and understanding of government initiatives, the Ministry of Information would, in collaboration with the ISD, roll out the MMDCEs Meet-the-Press series that would allow the metropolitan, municipal and district authorities to periodically brief the press and other identifiable groups and other stakeholders on specific issues to enhance implementation of local development initiatives.
Mr Nkrumah said it was also anticipated that with the combination of that plethora of structured engagements with the citizenry, government would steadily and cumulatively bring governance to the grassroots or the door steps of Ghanaians in a way that would engender confidence in our politics through a dispassionate and objective discussion of national issues.
Confidence building
“This confidence –building in our politics has become more critical with the approach of the scheduled referendum on election of MMDCEs which is slated for the latter part of the year. There is an urgent need for all members of the public to exercise a very high level of circumspection to enable us tone down the heightened political tension that is likely to characterise the process to elect the MMDCEs for the first time in our political history,’’ he cautioned.
He finally stressed the need to safeguard public peace and security that had become very paramount in recent times in view of the escalating terrorist activities in neighbouring Burkina Faso in the light of recent intelligence that some elements of these extremist groups had already entered Ghana.
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Upper Manya, Mr Felix Nartey Odjao, in his presentation enumerated a number of projects and programmes executed for the past two and half years, including school infrastructure, agriculture, market infrastructure, education, health and others which had lifted the image of the district carved out of the Manya Krobo District in 2008.
He said the security situation which used to be a worry of the assembly was very calm as crime rate for the years under review was reducing steadily year by year. He, however, mentioned that one major security issue which the district was battling with was the Fulani herdsmen. The security agencies he said, were working assiduously to be on top of security issues in the district.
Interest of total development
The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Nuertey Ayertey, said the government was committed in implementing its flagship programmes in the interest of total development of the country.
During an open forum, the people asked questions on all the sectors but most especially on roads, electrification and education. They thanked the government for reshaping some roads but said more needed to be done, as well as connection of electricity to some of the communities.
Rev. Divine Nartey, who chaired the function, thanked the government for the development of the Upper Manya Krobo District.
He appealed to the people to patronise community engagements in the various communities in order to be abreast of current issues.