Electroate urged to conduct themselves in a civil manner to preserve peace

The Mfantseman Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Henry Kweku Hayfron has appealed to the citizens of the municipality to desist from engaging in actions that can inflame passions in the December 7 elections and thereafter.

He said belonging to a different side of the political divide did not make one an enemy.

“Politics is about disagreeing to agree and not about who is the strongest in terms of physique for opponents to fight”, Mr. Hayfron said when he addressed the second ordinary meeting of the session of the sixth assembly at Saltpond.

He urged the citizenry to conduct themselves honorably to make the elections free, fair, transparent and incident free to enable the peace the nation was enjoying to be sustained.

The MCE urged members of the assembly to cooperate with the security operatives and report suspected trouble makers and people with diabolic intentions to the security personnel.

“Let us not destroy the good image the nation has attained in democratic dispensation worldwide”, the MCE stated.

Mr. Hayfron expressed worry about the inability of the Assembly to raise enough internally generated funds (IGF) to meet the day to day running of the Assembly.

“As you are aware, a sound revenue base does not only sustain the administrative machinery and development programmes of the assembly but is also an important factor in determining our share of the District Assembly Common Fund,” the MCE reminded the assembly members.

He said though the assembly had been allocated GHc797,313.80 as it s share of the District Assemblies' Common Fund for 2012, only allocations for two quarters had been received as follows. First Quarter Gross GHC165,272.50, Net 49,793.63; and Second Quarter Gross GHC139652.79, Net GHC 28,178.99.

The Municipal Chief Executive said the Assembly in collaboration with the Member of Parliament for the area had implemented 141 projects under the Better Ghana Agenda from 2009-2012.

He gave the breakdown of the projects as follows: Education infrastructure – 50, water and Sanitation – 43, Health – 5, Roads – 23, Markets/Economic Projects – 10, ICT/Residential accommodation – 10.

He said the assembly also engaged 106 youth in Community education-teaching assistants, 112 in Health Extension work, 15 in Community Project Unit, 14 in Youth in Fire Safety and Prevention Assistants, and five as Prison Service Assistants.

The rest are: 18 in paid internship and Industrial attachment, 200 in Trade and Vocation (hairdressing and dressmaking) 243 in Waste and Sanitation (Zoomlion) and 679 in afforestation (Zoil).

The Assembly later approved its Fee- fixing Resolution for the 2013 fiscal year.