GARU-TEMPANE ASSEMBLY POISED FOR DEVELOPMENT (PAGE 22, DEC 30)

The Garu-Tempane District in the Upper East Region has set aside GH¢6,612,936.29 to support development projects in the district for 2010.
The assembly has also estimated that it will generate GH¢96,620.00 as its internally generated fund, which is the primary source of revenue to every assembly.
The Garu-Tempane District Chief Executive, Mr David Adakudugu, said this at the second ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the assembly at Garu.
According to Mr Adakudugu, the 2010 Annual Action Plan of the assembly contained most of the 2009 projects, which had been rolled over and a few ones added for implementation.
He said the plan had been sub-divided into ‘Good Governance and Civic Responsibility, Human Resource Development and Private Sector Competitiveness, which conformed with the three thematic areas of GPRS II, the document that guides the national development drive.
Giving a breakdown of the figure, the DCE said GH¢ 1,504,086.58 had been earmarked under the Good Governance and Civic Responsibility agenda, while with the Human Resource Development, which covered sectors such as education, health and support for persons with disability had a provision of GH¢1,397,549.02.
According to the DCE, the Private Sector Competitiveness sector which included agriculture and its sub-sectors, roads, markets, water and sanitation also had a provision of GH¢6,990,407.11.
Mr Adakudugu commended the assembly members for their support and appealed to them to collaborate more in the provision of development projects for the area.
“Effective revenue mobilisation has been a major problem in the district. The assembly has, therefore, instituted measures to improve the revenue mobilisation drive,” the DCE said, adding that in doing so management had been able to reshuffle the nine area council secretaries and steps were underway to do same for the revenue collectors to set realistic targets.
“We will also ensure regular monitoring of the revenue collection points,” Mr Adakudugu said.
He said in addition to the above, an instant payment of commission to revenue collectors as they rendered accounts on their daily collections was being introduced to avoid accumulating commissions that were being used as an excuse for embezzling revenue.
The DCE said another measure was to embark on training programmes to build the capacities of the revenue collectors and area council staff in revenue mobilisation and record management.
He told the assembly members that a number of projects had been awarded on contract, and would thus be completed between three and six months.
These include the construction of Community Health Preventive Services (CHPS) compounds with a borehole at Aloko and Gagbiri; the construction of classroom blocks at Akara, Kongo, Garu, Nomboko, Kpatia, Buipielsi and Gaago.
The DCE commended the district’s development partners such as the District Wide Assistance Programe (DWAP), World Vision International, Community Base Rural Development, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Children’s Fund, among others, for their support in achieving the needed development in the district.
The Presiding Member of the assembly, Mr Solomon Awini, noted the marked improvement in the security situation in the district and expressed hope that with support from the District Police Commander, the Community Watchdog Committee concept would come into force to save the people from the wrath of criminals.
He also brought to the notice of the assembly members the harm done to the environment by bush fires and enlisted their support to avert the situation in future.
The assembly passed a resolution to ban the use of “spinners” at funerals after sunset. According to the assembly members, the use of the spinning equipment at funerals attracted children to the funeral grounds at the expense of their education.
They also claimed that it had raised the level of promiscuity in the town since an inspection of funeral grounds a day after showed a large collection of used condoms. The Presiding Member also said available figures from the Girl Child Education Unit indicated that the number of teenage pregnancy cases and illegal abortions was on the increase.
The restriction, as proposed by the chiefs in the area, is therefore to reverse the situation.
The DCE also backed the resolution and stressed that it would go a long way to help preserve the indigenous culture of the people.