Asuogyaman citizens not familiar with Assembly planning structures

A concerning number of residents living in the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region, have very little or no knowledge about the District Assembly's planning structure in their area. The citizens in the district do not participate, or are not involved, in the development planning of their respective local areas.

A research conducted by Socioserve-Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, confirmed this assertion under its “Our Voice Counts” project, the result of which was disclosed at a baseline dissemination meeting with stakeholders, including assembly members in the Asuogyaman District at Atimpoku.

When the level of citizens' knowledge and participation in the decentralized planning structures in six electoral areas was enquired, only 1.7 percent of the over 400 respondents interviewed knew something about the Assembly’s Medium-Term Development Plans (MTDPs). Only 7.7 percent knew their Area Council Chairpersons and members, and only 13.4 percent were actually aware of the existence of Areal Councils.

The research finding indicated that ten percent of the residents were aware of the functions of their respective Area Councils. A total of 57.8 per cent of the residents had knowledge about the work and function of the Asuogyaman District Assembly, only 12.2 per cent of them knew the ways the district assembly carried out its development planning activities in the area.

It was, however, found out that a whopping 90.5 per cent knew about the development challenges in their various communities, and even had ideas on how those challenges they mentioned could be solved. A good number of residents were aware of the role and functions of the Unit Committees in their respective areas, most even knew their Unit Committee and assembly members but they did not see them function satisfactorily.

The research also found out that no advocacy platform was created to engage the citizens on issues included in previous MTDPs. It was also found out that there was no Civil Society Organisations participation in previous MTDPs, while socially excluded groups were never mobilized and sensitized on them.

Mr John Obuaba, a Programmes Officer at Socioserve-Ghana, called for the need to get community members to participate in the decentralized planning process to ensure citizens’ ownership of development in the district. “This will ensure proper and judicious use of resources, as development projects will be informed by demand from the larger community,” he said.

However at the meeting, it came out that financial constraint was a major challenge to move responsible departments to educate and get citizens involved in development. Assembly members and the National Commission for Civic Education also expressed worry about the apathetic attitude of the residents themselves towards their own development, saying: “They do not show any interest.”

The meeting even alleged that community members sometimes demanded money before participating in any sensitization programme or agenda meant for their own welfare.