Jaman South Assembly steps up security

Drobo (B/A), Sept. 27, GNA - Mr Julius Atta Bediako, Jaman South District Chief Executive (DCE), at the weekend gave the assurance that the District Security Committee (DISEC) was working to check the spate of armed robbery cases on the highway linking Drobo to Sampa in Jaman North. He said the Committee was also 93leaving no stone unturned" in its fight against smuggling along the Ghana-Cote d'Ivoire border in the district, a= s well as the influx of unlicensed vehicles and motorbikes. Mr Bediako was addressing the first ordinary meeting of the first session of the District Assembly at Drobo.

As part of efforts to curb security skirmishes in the area, he said th= e Assembly had approved a periodic allocation of fuel to military, police, immigration and national security operatives to enhance patrol duties. Touching on the Ivorian crisis and the resultant influx of both refugees and returnees in the District, Mr Bediako said all the 280 refugee= s who arrived in the district through the border posts at Atuna, Kwameprakrom= , Kofitiakrom, Bodaa and Kwameseikrom were catered for by the Assembly before they were moved to the refugee camps in the district. He announced that 40 combatants who were registered at the border post= s were escorted to Sunyani.

The DCE expressed his disappointment with the abysmal performance of schools in the district in the 2011 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) as only three out of the 60 Junior High Schools presented scored zer= o per cent in the examination.

They were Drobo Roman Catholic, Taino Number One and Kofitiakrom District Assembly Junior High Schools. Mr Bediako said the 2010/2011 BECE results were 93a stain" on the consistent excellence of the District's Directorate of Education in the examination for the past decade.

He urged the Directorate to investigate the cause of the poor performance of the candidates. Mr Michael Amponsah, Presiding Member of the Assembly, tabled a motion for the formation of a public relations and complaints committee that would receive complaints made against members and staff of the Assembly. He said the committee would ensure openness, transparency and good governance, as well as consensus building in the Assembly. Mr Amponsah who is the Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) urged members of the Assembl= y to ensure the active participation of the electorate in the decentralizatio= n and decision-making processes, while offering education on their rights and responsibilities.

The Assembly must pursue policies, programmes and projects that would ensure both human and material development that would invariably help reduc= e poverty amongst the people.

The District Coordinating Director, Mr Seth Nii Okpe, urged both the electronic and print media to guard against politics of insults, unguarded utterances and unsubstantiated statements on the airwaves, but rather to help ensure that the 2012 election was conducted with decorum.