Assemblies urged to involve the people in Accountability

Mr Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere, Eastern Regional Minister, has called on District and Municipal Assemblies to motivate citizens in their areas to be involved in the transparency and accountability process of their localities

He explained that transparency, accountability and participation, were key tenets of good governance, especially at the local level, where the people were affected directly by government policies, programmes and decisions.

This is contained in a speech read on behalf of the Minister at the Eastern Regional launch of the Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanism Project (GSAM), in Koforidua.

Mr Antwi-Boasiako observed that the launch of the project offered a unique opportunity for re-assessing citizens' involvement in the transparency and accountability processes at the district level.

He said many citizens of the country perceived capital projects in the country as avenues for technocrats and politicians to enrich themselves.

Mr Antwi-Boasiako explained that the perception was based on the fact that the citizens were not provided with adequate information on such projects.

The Chief of Party of GSAM, Mr Clement Nana Tandoh, explained that there had been various interventions to promote transparency and accountability in the implementation of public projects in the past.

However, he said, the difference between the GSAM and other interventions was that the GSAM focused on mobilizing the local community to monitor capital projects of the District Assemblies.

Mr Tandoh said the project, funded by USAID, would focus on strengthening citizens' oversight of capital projects in 100 district across the country.

He said the project was designed to strengthen social accountability, by improving information flow from the District Assemblies to Civil Society Organizations, to enhance their capacity to demand accountability on capital projects within the districts.