The Tano South District Assembly has held its General Assembly Meeting. The meeting which saw for the first time in attendance the Omanhene of the Bechem Traditio
nal Council Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto II had for its agenda.
· Opening remarks of Hon Presiding Member
· Discussion of Minutes of Previous Meeting
· Hon District Chief Executives Sessional Address
· Discussion and Acceptance of District Chief Executive’s Address
· Executive Committees Report
The Hon Presiding Member in his opening remarks asked for members’ maximum cooperation and comportment attention and also to crave for constructive contributions to discussions during sitting.
He called on members to remind themselves of their primary duty of feeding the people of their respective electoral areas with the issues that were deliberated upon during assembly sessions, particularly those that affect them. The Presiding Member said the meeting could have been held earlier but due to some policies and programmes of government which the Hon DCE was part o
f its implementation in the District it has to be delayed.
He appealed to the Hon DCE and his able management team to use their good offices to see to it that members get minutes of previous meeting at least two weeks prior to another meeting. The Presiding Member said he anticipated Honorable members would permanently continue to manifest greater responsiveness and higher sense of duty. By doing so they would be positively assisting the Hon DCE and his team to work toward the development of the district in order to improve the living standards of the people.
In a short remark, the Omanhene
of Bechem Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto II called on the assembly to see to it that the Bechem Weekly Market which currently cannot serve the huge number of people who patronize it to be moved from its present site to its new site at Bechem Junction.
The Omanhene lamented on how sheep and goats are left to stray in the township both day and night and called on the authorities to check the incidence of stray anima
ls in the township. The Omanhene further implored on the assembly to use communal labour in most of its venture to improve conditions in Bechem and asked that offenders who fail to turn up during communal labour could be brought before the traditional council.
To conclude, the Omanhene called for the early gazetting of the
assemblie
s by-laws so that it could be binding and effective.
In his Sessional Address, the Tano South Dis
trict Chief Executive Ho
norable Bukari Zakari Anaba expressed his profound gratitude to all honourable
me
mbers
for their c
on
tributions to deliberations in the house and used the occasion to also thank all he
ad of departm
ents for their technical advice and said their contributions have been helpful to the assembly.
Hon. Anaba urged all honourble assembly members to sit up because “We still need concerted efforts to move the District to a higher pedestal”. Assembly members he said are hereby entreated to continue to educate the electorates to participate in all initiatives that would lead to the developments of their various communities and the District at large.
On internally generated funds, he said the assembly has targeted to collect GH¢221,900.00 but as at the end of the first quarter the amount collected stood at GH¢40,023.53, this he said the period could be described as lean season but the assembly is faced with some challenges some of which are:
· Non-existence of Revenue Task Force in the District
· Lack of Public education on the need to pay tolls and rates
· Non-availability of by-laws to prosecute rate defaulters
· Absence of District Data base
· Below standard rate of Revenue Collection by Permanent collectors
The Honorable District Chief Executive therefore appealed to all honor
able members to assist in embarking on an intensive Revenue Mobilization Exercise to generate enough funds for the development of the District.
Honorable Bukari Zakari Anaba revealed that the government has rolled out a new National Forest Plantation Development Programme under which about three hundred workers would be employed, but mentioned that people were not willing to release land for the programme and urged members to educate Nananom on the issue.
On Education and Educational infrastructure the Hon DCE said since education is the key to knowledge and enlightenment, the Assembly would not relent on its efforts at providing the necessary support for the growth and development of education in the District and said the assembly is committed to the improvement of educational infrastructure in the District.
The District Chief Executive mentioned that so far only five schools have enjoyed the school feeding programme in the District and pleaded with Hon members to urge their communities to contribute in kind or cash to support the programme in the District. He further charged the assembly members to educate their electorates on the non-availability of more funds to enroll every applicant in the assemblies scholarship programme though it has been expanded from 25 to 80.
On Health the DCE hinted that efforts are been made to open the Subriso and Nsuta Chip compound by the end of August or early September.
Also on Sports the DCE hinted that the Bechem Traditional Council has shown the assembly sites for the construction of a Mini Sports Complex and management has finally settled on one site at Bechem-Mansin Road and it is hoped that part of the District Development Fund (DDF) when officially released will be used to fund this proj
ect.
Touching on the road network in the District, the DCE mentioned some road projects that have been executed and those programmed for routine maintenance works some of which include Nsuta-Daaso, Old Brosankro-New Brosankro and Derma-Ayensuano.
The contract of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) beneficiaries he said has expired and the exit plan which was part of the programme took effect from 31st March, 2010 and the exit plan gives the beneficiaries the opportunity to be absorbed in to the main stream employment. He therefore called on the youth to re-register at the District office for consideration and placement.
The DCE reminded honourable members that this year is another election year for them and advised them that they should ensure that they run a clean campaign devoid of insinuations and insults. Hon Anaba urged members to take it upon themselves to educate their people on this year’s population and housing census.
He pleaded with the house to accord officials of the National Identification Authority the necessary assistance as the programme would be in the Brong Ahafo Region in June, 2010. The Executive Committee of the House presented its report and it was accepted by members.
