The second ordinary meeting of the third session of the seventh Bongo District Assembly in the Upper East Region, was held last week. The meeting lasted two days spanning from Tuesday, 25th September to Wednesday, 26th September, 2018.
Bongo District Chief Executive [DCE] Mr. Peter Ayinbisa Ayamga in his sessional address to the House, dwelled on the Security situation in the district, Education, Health, Agriculture, Water and Sanitation among other areas.
On health for instance, the DCE disclosed that the district recorded zero maternal deaths from January to August, 2018 while the sector was also collaborating with the Korean International Corporation Agency [KOICA] for capacity building of its staff, logistical support and other related issues.
Mr. Ayamga further disclosed that, the District Health Directorate had taken delivery of several dozens of insecticide treated mosquito nets for distribution to households across the district as part of major efforts to stem the incidence of malaria cases in the area. He appealed to the assembly members to help educate and sensitise their people on malaria prevention methods.
Meanwhile, Out-Patient Department [OPD] attendance had also risen from 39,843 between January and August 2017 to 49,043 in 2018 for the same period. He commended the health staff for chalking these achievements while working under conditions that may not have been too favourable to them. He thus pledged that, the Assembly will continue to do all it can to assist the health authorities in the discharge of their life-saving duties in the district.
Turning his attention to the Assembly’s performance in terms of Internally Generated Funds [IGF], the DCE announced that a total targeted sum of 232,378.00 Ghana Cedis was set by the Honourable House to be collected by the Assembly in the 2018 fiscal year. But he noted that as at July 31, 2018, an amount of 153,294.92 Ghana Cedis had been mobilised representing 65.97 percent of the set target.
According to the DCE, this was an encouraging performance as compared to the 2017 performance of 113,024.84 Ghana Cedis within the same period with a corresponding percentage at the time, pegged at 49.12 percent. He thus made a passionate appeal to the Assembly members to support the Assembly’s Revenue Mobilisation Task Force and other designated revenue staff in their efforts to improve the quantum of IGF for development purposes and for the effective running of the Assembly.
Mr. Ayamga also revealed that the Assembly approved a total sum of 3,539,521.31 Ghana Cedis as its share of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund [DACF] adding that, this figure was to be disbursed to the Assembly on quarterly basis by the Administrator of the DACF. He further revealed that his Assembly had so far received 1,075,789.87 Ghana Cedis from the DACF being releases for the fourth quarter of 2017 and first quarter of 2018. However, the Assembly was still awaiting disbursements for the second and third quarters of 2018.
The DCE’s address also brought to light some projects the Bongo Assembly had either completed or was had works currently going on. He mentioned as examples, the drilling and mechanisation of 3-number boreholes at Zorkor, Soe and Sanabisi as completed, construction of 1-number 10-seater pour flash toilet at Soe with 70 percent of works done so far, construction of a CHPS compound at Sanabisi as completed and the construction of a 3-unit classroom block with ancillary facilities in another community with about 60 percent of works complete.
Mr. Ayamga concluded his sessional address with a brief to the House on Water and Sanitation and intimated that, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency [CWSA] with funding from the World Bank, had engaged the services of a consultant to conduct feasibility studies and design for 6-number Small Town Water Supply Systems in the fluoride belt of the district. He gave the assurance that, funds for the construction of the project itself were ready and sitting in an account awaiting disbursements as soon as the feasibility studies were complete and successful.
Source: Peter Atogewe Wedam (ISD)