MCE urges assembly members to participate in government programmes

Takoradi January.17,-GNA-Mr. Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Chief Executive, on Wednesday called on assembly members to get fully involved in the implementation of government programmes aimed at addressing the poverty syndrome and relieve parents of the excesses of financing their wards education.

He made the call when addressing the first meeting of the first ordinary session of the Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly (SAEMA) at Takoradi.

Mr. Nkrumah said the involvement of assembly members in the implementation of programmes such as the National Insurance Scheme, the HIV/AIDS project and the School Feeding Programme would assist to improve standard of living of people in their communities. He said these policies and programmes have been put in place by the government to "address commonly felt problems in our communities and the general public."

Mr. Nkrumah urged members of the Metropolitan Assembly to support the efforts of the assembly to keep the metropolis clean, especially during the Ghana @ 50 celebration and the CAN 2008 Football Tournament. He sad cleanliness of the metropolis should be their top priority and they should help to mobilise their communities for clean-up exercises.

Mr. Nkrumah said the metropolis would gain from a number of projects, notably the construction of a modern place of convenience at Sekondi and the construction of durbar grounds in Takoradi.

He said these projects have taken off and other projects such as Visitors Reception Center, Jubilee Primary School and Kindergarten would start very soon.

Mr. Nkrumah said, "The Asse mbly is a non-partisan organisation and members will be advised to put their political leanings outside the doors of the assembly and the development of our metropolis should be our political ideology".

Mr. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Chairman of the Finance and Administration Sub-Committee of the assembly, presented the assembly's 2007 budget statement.

He said the budget incorporated national policies and programmes as well as "The Assembly's focus to achieve its development functions". Mr. Darko-Mensah said the projected revenue estimate is 42,813,900,000 cedis comprising of 13,373,900,000 cedis as internally generated revenue and 29,440,000,000 cedis as grants.

He said the Assembly wants to build up a data on its revenue payers in order to maintain an accurate data for effective revenue mobilization.

Mr. Darko-Mensah said management of the Business Operating Permit and Outdoor Advertisement has been ceded to private operators to inject efficiency and mobilize enough resources.

Mr. Kwesi Biney, Ahanta West District Chief Executive and the Western Regional representative on the executive committee of the National Local Government Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), advised districts assemblies to set aside at least 50 per cent of their revenue for sanitation during the celebration of the country's Golden Jubilee and the CAN 2008.

Mr. Biney, who briefing the session about the deliberation of NALAG said the environment must be kept clean during the two occasions that would attract many visitors to the country for about two years. Mr. Edwin Philips, the Presiding Member of SAEMA, said, although the metropolis is adjudged the cleanest in the country, sanitation is still a problem.

He said all effort should be made to bring the metropolis up to the same standard as other cities in the world because "In the next two years, the eyes of the world would be focused on Ghana and SAEMA would not be left out".