Assemblies fail to form committees

Koforidua, Nov 24, GNA - Some Municipal and District assemblies who had been offered opportunities to give scholarships to girls have failed to form committees to enable the benefactors to go ahead with the project. Out of the 59 districts selected, only 36 had formed the committees but the project had not been able to go ahead with the implementation since the donor partners want the project to kick off at the same time in all the selected districts.

This came to light at the maiden review meeting of the Gender Responsive Skills and Community Development Projects under the Ministry of Women and Children (MOWAC) in Koforidua on Wednesday. The defaulting assembliess which are delaying the implementation of the project are the Kumasi Metropolitan, Asante Akim North Municipal, Sekyere South, Amansie West and Ejura Sekyedumasi in the Ashanti Region, Wenchi Municipal, Jaman and Tano South districts in the Brong Ahafo Region. Others are Efutu Municipal, Komenda/ Edina/Eguafo/Abirem Municipal and Gomoa West in the Central Region, Birim Central, East Akim, New Juaben Municipal Assemblies and the Lower Manya Krobo District in the Eastern Region, Tema Municipal, Gushiegu and West Mamprusi Districts in the Northern Region.

The rest are Wa Municipal, Wa East and Wa West districts in the Upper West Region and Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan in the Western Region. Mr Forster Boateng, the Project Coordinator, said the response of forming the scholarship committees by all the beneficiary districts was a basic requirement to ensure that a body was put in place in the districts responsible for the selection and disbursement of the grants. He said under the project 500 girls in the 59 districts would be sponsored to take technical and vocational training courses that would build their capacities for a sustained livelihood empowerment. He said the project, which was launched a year ago, is being sponsored by the African Development Bank (AFDB) and the Government of Ghana to develop the capacities of women and to coordinate gender mainstreaming for women's empowerment.

Mrs Juliana Azumah Mensah, the Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, expressed disappointment with the failure of the assemblies to grab such an opportunity that would impact on their development agenda. She said the district assemblies often dragged their feet in responding to projects that had the capacity of lifting their districts and wondered why a district assembly would hesitate in forming just a committee for free money to educate girls.

Mrs Mensah said the empowerment of girls and women was dear to the government and for that matter the ministry would not take kindly to any government institution or establishment that would want to sabotage or delay projects meant for gender balance and equity. The Director of Institute of Local Government, Dr Esther Offei Aboagye who chaired the function, all the defaulting assemblies should be sanctioned to serve as a deterrent to others. She said as the District Assemblies were the pivot around which development hanged, their demeanor towards such projects raised a lot of concern, not to the benefactors alone but also to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. 24 Nov. 10