TANO SOUTH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY HOLDS FIRST ORDINARY MEETING AT BECHEM

The First Ordinary meeting of the Second Session of the Tano South District Assembly has been held at the District capital in the Brong Ahafo Region.

The full house Assembly meeting also saw in attendance Heads of various Government Departments and agencies,  a representative of the Bechem Traditional Council, staff of the Assembly, the District Coordinating Director and her deputies and Nana Ampong Kromantang II, the Krontihene of Techimantia.

The presiding member of the Assembly, Hon. Anthony Opoku in an opening address said, he was delighted once again  to welcome them to the first ordinary meeting of the second session of the sixth Assembly.

He said, general assembly meeting is an important component of the decentralization process and therefore relevant to the development of the district.

He said, the oversight reasonability of the Honourable members involves promoting community development, collaborating and monitoring the activities of duty bearers to ensure that such activities are carried out legally, efficiently and in accordance to legislative intent and was happy that since they were sworn into office as honourable assembly members they have discharged their duties satisfactorily.

Hon. Opoku said as part of the process to ensure grass root participation in local government, the unit committees that were elected in the Town and Area Councils were inaugurated in February, 2016 to enable them perform their functions, and in all one hundred and seventy four (174) unit committee members were inaugurated.

Hon. Opoku thanked the management of the assembly, Hon assembly members and unit committee members for their roles in making the inauguration successful and entreated all Honourable members to build a strong link with their unit committees so that gaps in the development needs of the communities are identified and measures taken to address them to improve the quality of lives of our people.

Touching on the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), Hon. Opoku said NALAG is a nation-wide organisation and the mouth piece of all local authorities (MMDAs) in Ghana and informed the house that the regional association of NALAG in January, 2016 elected the Presiding Member of the Berekum Municipal Assembly, Hon. Nana Oteng Gyan II as its Brong Ahafo representative. He informed the house that, NALAG in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development have decided to procure and supply new motorbikes to Honourable Members and which as an assembly they were expected to pass a resolution to that effect.

Hon. Opoku told the house that the Public relations and complaints unit of the assembly was an important committee which is responsible directly to the assembly and chaired by the presiding member.

He said in order to ensure openness, transparency and good governance, the committee receives complaints made against the conduct of members and staffs of the assembly by the public and make recommendations to the assembly and also ensure that aggrieved citizens get fast and fair hearing and entreated members to educate their electorates about the existence of the public relations and complaints committee.

Hon. Opoku informed the house that the PRCC has received a number of complaints about stray animals and the destruction they cause to properties and appealed to Honourable members to collaborate with their unit committee to address the issue in their various electoral areas.

Hon. Opoku concluded his address by calling on all to join him to formally congratulate the hon. Member of Parliament for the Constituency, Hon. Hannah Louisa Bissiw, who is also the deputy minister for agriculture for the numerous projects she is undertaking in the district and called on Hon. Members to feel free to contribute constructively on issues which will be raised on the floor of the Assembly.

The Tano South District Chief Executive, Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba in his sessional address expressed his profound gratitude and commendation to the Assembly Members for their prompt response to the meeting and echoed his promise to continue working with them in an open door and transparent administration devoid of partisan politics and divisiveness and entreated all Hon. Members to focus on their core responsibility which is of development in the district.  

Hon. Anaba said, members will agree with him that, effective functioning of every organization depends on its human resource and the Tano South District is manned by competent and hardworking staff which has translated to the success of achieved so far as an Assembly. He said, the staff strength of the Assembly as at March, 2016 stood at two hundred and fifty-five (255) which is made up of one hundred and forty-one (141) females, fifty-four (54) are senior staff, whilst one hundred and eighty (180) are junior staff and said management with the district finance office has increased the wage of IGF staff to meet the minimum wage.

Hon. Anaba said the district has remained relatively calm and peaceful due to the hard work and diligence of the district security committee (DISEC) but however, there have been isolated cases of stealing, chieftaincy and boundry disputes in the district which the security committee is not resting in their efforts to ensure peace. Hon. Anaba said, there have been media reports of terrorist attacks in our neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso, Cote D’voire, Mali and the rest and also news of Ghanaians young men and women joining terrorist groups in other parts of the world which informs us to be vigilant in our localities and report promptly to the security agencies suspected criminals for appropriate actions to be taken against them.

Hon. Anaba said, the Assembly has received revenues which has been be used for various projects and programmes and said the rate of collection is satisfactory but there is still room for improvement and entreated Hon. Members to step up the collection mechanism to improve on the Internally Generated Fund collection to complement whatever amount the Assembly receive from central government. Hon. Aanaba said, in order to improve on the revenue collection, the administration has embarked on a number of measures to help salvage the situation.

Recognizing the important role the persons with disability play in the socio-economic development of our country, Hon Anaba said the government has set aside two percent ( 2%) of the District Assembly Common Fund allocated to every Assembly for disbursement to persons with disability to support them in a number of factors and was happy to inform the house that the Assembly has from January, 2016 disbursed an amount of GH 39,430.00 to 116 people living with disability for education purpose and income generation activities.

Hon. Anaba said, the Assembly is working towards increasing both geographical and financial access to health and the CHIP concept in the district is operated in two fold and also the Assembly awarded for the construction of three (3) CHIP compounds at Breme, Kwasu and Asuboi which is progressing steadily. He said the Member of Parliament is also assisting in a number of projects at the Derma Health Center and also plans which is far advanced for the commencement of the construction of 200 bed capacity district hospital at Bechem.

Hon.Anaba informed the house that the district office of the national health insurance authority has planned to hold 5 community durbars in selected communities to sensitise the resident on the introduction of capitation in Brong Ahafo Region and these communities are Bechem, Techimantia, Derma, Subriso and Brosankro.

Hon. Anaba said the Assembly in collaboration with the district health directorate and a UK Based NGO, Palladium Groups have been organising Adolescent health programmes in the district to educate our teaming youth on adolescent related issues and also thanked the district director of health service as well as the district epidemic management committee for their swift response in controlling the disease as such cholera, pneumococcal meningitis and others which hit the district and the country as a whole in the last quarter of 2015.

Hon. Anaba said education continues to be one of priorities of the government agenda and as such a number of projects and programmes have been undertaken in this respect in the district. He said, the assembly in collaboration with the agriculture department of the district has established a number of demonstration farms in the district and also a number of measures have also been put in place for the assembly to collaborate with partners to enhance agriculture production and help reduce poverty in the district.

Hon. Anaba said a number of water project is on-going in the district under the CWSA programme whiles road networks in the district is also receiving attention. Hon. Anaba commended Nananom, Assembly members, Heads of Departments for their regular participation in all the national sanitation day exercise in the district since its inception and called on Hon. Members to sensitise their people on the need to participate in the clean-up exercise whenever they are called upon.

Hon. Anaba informed the house of the impending opening of the limited voter’s registration exercise to be carried out in the district and said the Tano South District have 20 registration centre and called on those who have since not registered and are qualified to patronize the exercise and  called on all members to have a fruitful deliberation.

MINIISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY PAYS WORKING VISIT TO TANO SOUTH DISTRICT

The Minister of Trade and Industry has paid a one day working visit to the Tano South District of the Brong Ahafo Region to visit and interact with local entrepreneurs and have a look at their workplaces.

The Minister’s visit saw him and his entourage first paying a courtesy call on the Tano South District Chief Executive, Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba where he interacted with Assembly Members, Heads of various government departments and staff of the Tano South District Assembly.

In a short speech to welcome the Minister, the Tano South District Chief Executive, Hon. Bukari Zakari Anaba said, the Minister’s visit was an indication of the government’s commitment of bringing governance to the doorstep of the people especially the rural communities where small scale industries are sited and outlined the various places the Minister would visit whilst in the district.

Briefing the Minister on the state of Businesses in the district, the Tano South District Head of the Business Advocacy Centre, Mr. Abdul – Mutalib Zakaria said, many people in the district have benefited from various training programmes such as soap making, grass-cutter rearing, Bee keeping and many more and said, the Tano South District Assembly through the BAC has been able to supply start-up equipment to graduates of the Bechem Rural Technology Facility who have completed a three (3) year programme in Metal fabrication and welding.

Mr. Mutalib said, farmers in the district also experience post-harvest loses which makes farmers not to keep their produce for longer periods and appealed through the Minister to government to provide storage facilities to be sited in the district since the Tano South District can boast of being one of the leading producers of tomatoes in the country.

He said, poultry farming has also gained root in the district as of such farms are springing up with people setting up their small scale farms and appealed if the government could come to their aid of such people with poultry kits.

Addressing the gathering, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon. Ekow Spio- Gabrah said, he deemed it a honour to have had the chance to visit the Tano South District to enable him has  first-hand  information on trade opportunities and Industrial establishments in the district.

Hon. Spio- Gabrah said, the Tano South District has many resources which need to be protected and developed for the future generation especially the youth and advised the unemployed youth to use their little resources to start up their businesses to reduce the unemployment rate in the country.

Hon. Spio-Gabrah said, government is putting in measures to turn attention on industrialization and urged all to be industrial minded. He said, the standard of the Bechem Rural Technology Facility would be raised for the facility to attain a higher status.

The Minister during his visit to the district, visited two (2) poultry farms, the cocoa Nursery project of the Cocobod , a soap manufacturing and oil palm extracting factory and the Rural Technology Facility.

The Minister in speeches at all the places he visited commended proprietors of the various workplaces and encouraged them to invest more of their resources in their operations so as to make them attain higher returns and be able to expand their businesses to be able to employ more hands as the government alone cannot solve the unemployment problem facing the country.

The Minister on a visit to the Cocoa station where a nursery project is underway was told that the government through the Bechem Cocobod has been able to nurse four hundred thousand (400,000) cocoa seedlings which would be distributed to farmers in the district in line with the government aim of making available sixteen million (16,000,000) cocoa seedlings to be distributed to farmers in the Brong Ahafo Region during the 2016 major farming season.

Proprietors of the two (2) poultry farms which the Minister visited Messrs Oppong Kyekyeku of Dwomo and Kwame Frimpong , a University graduate of Bechem appealed to the government through the Minister for a subsidy  to be put on poultry inputs such as feeds and others so that  poultry farmers could  buy more to feed their birds to enable them expand their farms.

Madam Lucy Mensah who operates the gari and oil palm establishment also appealed to the government for support in the operation of her establishment as the availability of some industrial machines at her site  would enable her expand the business and produce more and  be able to employ more hands.

The Minister on the other hand assured the proprietors of his Minister’s preparedness to come to their aid where his Ministry fits in and address the other concerns to the appropriate Ministry for the necessary measures to be taking on them.

PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITY IN THE TANO SOUTH DISTRICT RECEIVE SHARE OF COMMON FUND

The Tano South District Assembly through the Department of Social Welfare has disbursed the two percent (2%)  Share of the District Assembly Common Fund meant for people living with disability in the district.

In a short address to welcome the beneficiaries, the Tano South District Director of Social Welfare Mr. Samuel Kyeremeh said, the government of Ghana in its policy to invest in the people to transform the economy has made it possible for the release of an amount of GH¢ 19,160.00 to be distributed to people living with disability in the Tano South District with the aim of supporting them to open up and expand their businesses and advised them to make judicious use of the money so that they gain from it.

Addressing the beneficiaries, the Tano South District Chief Executive, Hon. Bukari  Zakari Anaba  extended the warm felicities of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama to the beneficiaries. He said, it is an obligation on the part of the government to support people living with disability and through that, the government through the Department of Social Welfare has released an amount of GH¢  19,160.00 representing two percent ( 2%) of the Assembly’s Common Fund to be disbursed to people living with disability in the district.

Explaining the methodology through which beneficiaries are selected, Hon. Anaba said, the Assembly relied on the Data captured from individual during 2010 Population and Housing Census and urged the public not to politicise the process in the selection of beneficiaries and urged the beneficiaries to always give accurate information to government Institutions and Agencies which want to compile individual data for policy and decision making processes.

Hon. Anaba said, the NDC government has been able to put in place measures which have helped to increase the financial package received by people living with disability. He said, the Tano South District Assembly has selected two hundred and sixty – seven households in the District out of which one person is also selected from each households to enjoy the LEAP programme and hinted that, people living with disability are insured free of charge in the National Health Insurance Scheme and entreated those without the Health Insurance card to contact the Social Welfare Department of the District for the necessary action to be taken on them in the acquisition of the health insurance card.

Hon. Anaba said, the LEAP programme has been introduced by government as an intervention programme with the aim to eradicate poverty and urged beneficiaries to also make judicious use of the package.