The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Ningo-Prampram District Assembly (NIPDA) has held a one- day engagement on Social Auditing for residents of Old-Ningo in the Greater Accra Region.
The engagement, which was supported by the European Union (EU), formed part of the NCCE’s planned activities under the Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme (ARAP), which is a joint anti-corruption initiative between the Government of Ghana and the EU. The programme, on the theme: “Citizens for Transparency and Accountability” was attended by officials of the Assembly, departmental heads, religious groups, women and youth groups, and residents among others.
Ms. Gifty Agyeiwaa Badu, Ningo-Prampram District NCCE Director, said the programme was to promote community ownership of developmental projects and policies as well as increase awareness of the activities of the Assembly.
Miss Badu urged residents to hold their duty bearers, especially the local government’s officials accountable by demanding from them answers on the annual planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects and programmes in their area.
She regretted that more often than not, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) were faced with challenges of promoting active participation and making information accessible to citizens due to low resource mobilization and over-dependence on the District Assembly’s Common Fund. She also observed that citizens on the other hand lacked sufficient understanding of the operational mechanism of the local governance system which limited their effective participation in governance.
Mr. Ali Amidu, Ningo-Prampram District Coordinating Director, on his part, encouraged residents to see Assembly projects as their own in order to monitor them while under construction to ensure that contractors did the right thing knowing that residents would not accept shoddy work. Mr. Amidu said, “if you see contractors doing the wrong things on-site at our blind side and you claim you don’t care, don’t forget that it’s your monies paid through taxes that are being wasted.”
Mr. Jonathan Teye Doku, Ningo-Pranmpram District Chief Executive, on his part, reminded residents on the need to pay their tolls, rates, and fees as that would enable the Assembly to accrue the needed revenue to embark on developmental projects.
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