DCE CAU TIONS ASSEMBLIES ON SUB-STRUCTURES (PAGE 13, DEC 3)

THE District Chief Executive (DCE) for Sekyere Afram Plains in the Ashanti Region, Mr J.K. Dankwah, has cautioned district assemblies against seeing their sub-structures as mere appendages.
“They are partners of the district assemblies and the central government in the development of the country,” he said.
He, therefore, called for the strengthening of relations between the Sekyere Afram Plains District Assembly and its sub-structures to facilitate positive grass roots governance and development.
Mr Dankwah, who stated this at the general meeting of the assembly at Kumawu, the district capital, said the assembly should resource its sub town/area councils to enable them to perform their statutory functions. 
He stated that the assembly received GH¢334,005.77 as its share of the first and second quarter releases of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund, and added that the amount was being used to finance approved development projects and programmes of the assembly’s 2009 supplementary budget.
He cautioned against the assembly’s over-dependence on the Common Fund for its development projects, and stressed the need for the assembly to intensify its internal revenue generation efforts.
Mr Dankwah said out of the estimated GH¢170,532.16 targeted for collection this year, GH¢115,545.66 had been collected as of September, representing 67.76 per cent of the annual target.
The DCE disclosed that in the recent functional organisation assessment conducted by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the assembly attained 74.5 per cent, which was described as outstanding.
“With this record, the assembly has qualified to benefit from investment package of the District Development Fund (DDF) for 2010,” he added.
Mr Dankwa announced that the district was to benefit from 15 schools projects under the second phase of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) projects. 
The beneficiary communities are Bodomase, Abotanso, Bodwease, Dagomba, Drobonso, Oyoko, Pepease and Wonoo.
Besides, 27 communities had been selected these to benefit from water and sanitation infrastructure facilities under the MiDA projects.
The DCE further disclosed that the rehabilitation of the 10.02km Kumawu-Kwaman road, which was awarded in October 2006, would be completed by the end of December 2009.
He stated that two key bridges, one on the River Afram on the Drobonso-Dawia road and the other on River Pru on the Anyinofi-Ayim road, would be reconstructed using steel, under a project being financed by the government.
He expressed concern about the deteriorating educational standard in the district, and stressed the need for the assembly to adopt measures to arrest the problem.
Mr Dankwah hinted that the assembly would sponsor the training of nurses so that they would work in the district on completion of their training.