The Presiding Member of the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District Assembly, Mr Anthony Kobina Amoakoh, has criticised heads of departments of the assembly for regularly absenting themselves from general meetings.
He stated that per the decentralisation concept, heads of decentralised departments were part of the smooth administration of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies(MMDAs) and must, therefore, attend general meetings to enhance the smooth running of MMDAs.
He noted that their presence at meetings was very paramount in the sense that some issues concerning their outfits could be raised during the deliberations for which they could provide the needed responses if they were present.
Mr Anthony Amoakoh, who did not mention names, made the criticisms while addressing the second ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the sixth assembly of the Asikuma-Odoben Brakwa District Assembly.
He gave the advice when he realised that some of the departmental heads had absented themselves from the meeting without formally informing the assembly.
He indicated that most of the issues at the district level could only be tackled when there was effective collaboration between the assembly and its decentralised departments.
He, therefore, appealed to them to always attend assembly meetings in order to strengthen the effective administration of the assembly.
District Chief Executive
In his sessional address, the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District Chief Executive, Mr Samuel Adom Botchway, said the district had taken delivery of 8,671 bags of fertilisers, 3,633 bags of cocoa feed and 1,500 bags of Cocoa master, an insecticide used to spray the cocoa plant, which have been duly distributed to deserving farmers free of charge.
He entreated cocoa farmers in the district to register with the cocoa extension officers to enable them to take advantage of the government’s free distribution of fertilisers to increase cocoa yield in the district.
He noted that the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) had procured pumps for the installation of 18 boreholes in the district. The beneficiary towns are Kojo Nkwanta, Asemasa, Kofi Ninsin, Tomsease, Anhwiam, Wasabiampa, Edukrom, Akawaso, Asomdwekrom, Kwakuboah,Oppongkwaa and Dawrampon. The rest are Ampaakobi, Nkwanta Eshiem, Ohenekrom, Nyamebekyere, Odose and Ohiatua.
He announced that under the Government of Ghana/UNICEF WASH project, the district assembly had been awarded with 15 institutional boreholes in some selected basic schools in the district.
Member of Parliament
The Member of Parliament for the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa Constituency, Mrs Georgina Nkrumah Aboah, in an address, said work would soon start on the Jamra Polyclinic, which is an effort by the government to help improve healthcare delivery in the district. He added that the polyclinic, when completed, would help ease the ever-growing pressure on the Our Lady of Grace Catholic Hospital at Breman Asikuma.
She informed the members that the street-lighting project was currently going on in the district, which is intended to achieve universal access to street-lighting infrastructure to be maintained on sustainable basis to enhance the socio-economic development of the people.
