Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) should be more transparent in their activities as they work for the development of their communities.

Mr Suraka Saani, Old Tafo Municipal Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), said the Assemblies existed to serve the interest and welfare of the people.
Consequently, they must always know as to how the state resources were utilized.

“We need to promote regular discourse between the citizenry and office bearers on planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects and programmes.
“This would help engender community ownership of development projects and policies, increase awareness on the operations of the local government system and also empower the citizenry to demand accountability from duty bearers,” he noted.

Mr Saani was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Pankrono-Abed in the Old Tafo Municipality of the Ashanti Region, on the sidelines of the launch of the NCCE’s ‘Public Engagement on Social Auditing’.

The programme is intended to enhance participatory governance by bringing together at the community level, office bearers and the masses, to enable the former explain how the Assemblies were implementing development projects and programmes.

It would also give opportunity for persons outside government operations to influence policy-making, implementation and evaluation of projects pertaining to issues such as education, health, roads and infrastructure, social services and employment.

Others include; national security, youth development, taxes, women and children, housing, information and communication technology (ICT), as well as energy and sports.

Mr Saani said the programme was being executed under ‘ARAP’, a joint anti-corruption initiative between Ghana and the European Union (EU), designed to foster good governance.
Under ‘ARAP’, he explained, the NCCE was required to campaign, advocate and lobby for increased accountability and reduction in corruption in the country, to improve accountability and compliance with the rule of law.

Issues that came up for discussion at the launch of the programme ranged from security, sanitation, social services to roads and infrastructural development.

Mr Richard Appiah, Presiding Member of the Old Tafo Municipal Assembly, and also Assemblyman for Pankrono-East, said the Assembly would not neglect the people in their activities.

Mr Isaac Kwame Ellimah, the Municipal Planning Officer, said the authorities had executed a number of projects in the area of education, health, security and infrastructural development for residents since the Municipality was created about two years ago.