The Catholic Diocese of Obuasi under the auspices of the Justice and Peace Commission in collaboration with the Bekwai Municipal Assembly has organized a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday 22nd August, 2019 at Dotom D/A Primary School Park on the theme: Community Participation in Local Governance for Rapid and Sustainable Development.
The Town Hall meeting is among a series of programmes organized by the Catholic Diocese in Municipals and districts across the country.
Mr. Charles Owusu Antwi, Coordinator for Justice and Peace Commission, in Bekwai explained that, the aim for such meetings was to bring local governance to the doorsteps of the people in their communities and also to offer them the opportunity to contribute their quota to the total management of the municipality.
He said the people should be given the opportunity to participate in decision making as it affects them directly.
The Bekwai Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Kwaku Kyei Baffour commended the Roman Catholic Church for organizing various hall meetings not only in his municipality but throughout the country. He stressed that, the purpose of the meeting was to interact with the people in the communities and also to provide a platform for them to either suggest or ask relevant questions on developmental issues in the country.
The Municipal Chief Executive said the Assembly was committed to ensure the provision of developmental projects across the municipality and pleaded with the people to be patient as it wills rolls its developmental agenda. Hon. Kyei Baffour promised the people that, all ongoing projects within the municipality will be properly supervised and completed in due course. Some of the developmental projects the Assembly is undertaking according to the Municipal Chief Executive includes:-
- Drilling of two Boreholes at Bekwai.
- Construction of 5No Boreholes with overhead tanks at Wesley Senior High School.
- Construction of 3-Unit Classroom block at Sarfokrom and Akyeremade Primary Schools, CHPS Compound at Poano.
Others include rehabilitation/upgrading of Bekwai Town Roads, rehabilitation of Dominase, Adjamesu and Senfi Roads and upgrading of Asanso/Feyiase Road among others.
Under One-District- One-Factory programme, Hon. Kwaku Kyei Baffour informed the people that the Assembly submitted about seven (7) proposals to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and four of the proposal have so far been approved.
He hinted that, three companies namely; Adinkra Frontiers, Kaskazini Limited and Bridport Ashanti Company limited have been referred to financial institutions to go through the process of acquiring the needed resources to commence operations in the municipality.
On the Free Senior High School Programme, Hon. Kyei said that all the six senior high schools in the municipality are all enjoying the free SHS policy introduced by the NPP Government in 2017. He mentioned that, due to the introduction of the Free SHS policy, enrollment in all the six senior high schools in the municipality has increased from two thousand, eight hundred and thirty-four (2,834) to four thousand and nine (4009) students.
The Municipal Chief Executive called on parents to take advantage of government’s policy to make basic and SHS education free for all to educate their wards.
According to Hon. Kyei Baffour, the Assembly through the District Assembly Common Fund disbursed an amount of GH¢198,874.00 to support people with disability in the municipality.
On his part, the Member of Parliament for Bekwai Constituency, Hon. Joseph Osei-Wusu said his government has already demonstrated its commitment to making education accessible to all hence the implementation of the free senior high school policy.
He said his outfit together with the Assembly will continue to provide the needed infrastructure and logistics to all the various schools in the municipality for effective academic work.
The Hon. Member of Parliament asked the contractor working on the Abodom to Dotom road to immediately report to site to continue from where he left.
Hon. Osei-Wusu warned that shoddy work would not be entertained and he was going to see to it that, there is value for money in every project been undertaking in the Municipality.
The Municipal Director of Education, Lucy Ama Ankrah expressed her profound gratitude to the Assembly for their support wherever she calls on them. She called on parents to rather invest in the education of their wards than spending money on material things. She used the opportunity to educate the gathering about the new curriculum been introduced by the Ghana Education Service and appealed to teachers to give out their best.
The Municipal Budget Analyst, Mrs Rachel Quaicoe in her presentation said, it’s the responsibility of the Assembly to explain its policies and programmes to the people in order to ensure participatory governance. She explained the various sources of revenue to the Assembly and how it is utilized.
Mrs Rachel Quaicoe mentioned District Assembly Common Fund, District Development Fund, Government of Ghana Salaries, UDG, and Internally Generated Fund as some of the sources of revenue of the Assembly. She explained the reasons for the Assembly to generate revenue locally hence urged the people to pay their taxes regularly.
The Municipal Environmental Officer, Mr. Jonathan Asiamah urged the public to manage refuse waste properly to prevent the outbreak of diseases. He informed the public that, his outfit will soon begin patrolling the various communities to summon any individual or group of people who do not keep their surroundings clean.
The Chief of Dotom, Nana Kyei Yeboah I who chaired the programme expressed his profound gratitude to the Catholic Church and the Municipal Assembly for its efforts in promoting inclusive engagement with the people at the local level.
He pleaded with the Assembly to do more developmental projects in the community and also improve upon security within the municipality.
BY ERIC NTI BOATENG (ISD – BEKWAI)
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