Denkyembour District Assembly Holds General Assembly Meeting
Posted by Elvis Offei-Bekoe - 12th April 2023
On Wednesday 12th April 2023, Denkyembour District Assembly held its first ordinary meeting of the General Assembly for the year 2023 at the District Assembly Hall. The meeting began with an opening prayer at around 10:30 am.
The Presiding Member for the assembly; Honourable Kennedy Asante, expressed his gratitude to all assembly members, the Member of Parliament, heads of departments, Nananom and all guests for honouring the invitation. He also appealed to the assembly members to give out their maximum cooperation during the meeting. He then took the house through a discussion on actions taken and recommendations from the previous meeting.
There was a brief sensitization from the Regional office of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) to the general house. The Regional Manager mentioned that the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) of Ghana was responsible for regulating and supervising the provision of public utility services in the country. Its core functions include setting tariffs and rates for water, electricity, and telecommunications services provided by private and public companies. The commission also ensures that these services are accessible, affordable, and of high quality to consumers, while promoting competition and efficiency in the sector. Additionally, the PURC is responsible for resolving disputes between service providers and consumers, and promoting the interests of consumers in the provision of public utility services. He then urged all assembly members to carry their functions to the respective electorates and also invite them to carry out sensitization programs in their electoral areas.
Nana Bempong, the District Engineer for Electricity Company of Ghana also briefed the house on the usage of ECG meters and how billing is done. He mentioned that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) bills its customers based on their electricity consumption as measured by pre-paid or post-paid meters. For pre-paid customers, the meter records the amount of electricity consumed and deducts the corresponding cost from the customer’s account balance. Post-paid customers are billed monthly based on their meter readings, and the amount payable is calculated by multiplying the consumption with the tariff rate set by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC). Additionally, the ECG also charges a fixed monthly service charge, which is included in the bill. Customers can make payments via various channels, including mobile money, bank transfers, and ECG offices. He lastly added that they were faced with some challenges that prevented them from reading and distributing bills to customers. He therefore urged all assembly members to educate their electorates to pay at least an amount to the ECG if bills have not been served in order to pay huge sums of money as piled-up bills.
The RTI officer for the District; Mr Solomon Ofosu also briefed the house on the RTI ACT and what it entails. He mentioned that the Act was passed by parliament in 2019 to promote transparency and accountability in all public institutions. He also added that every citizen has the right to every information in any public institution except the one exempted by the Act. He took the house through the procedure of requesting for information, some information that were exempt according to the act and other general knowledge about the Act. He then urged all assembly members to visit the RTI Unit for further clarifications.
The Member for Parliament for Akwatia Constituency, Honourable Henry Boakye Yiadom also addressed the General Assembly. He wished all assembly members and staff a belated Happy Easter and also encouraged all Muslims to be steadfast in their fasting. He then gave a brief account of some projects he had embarked on in the first quarter of the year. Major amongst them were support to some young individuals under his Youth-in-Apprenticeship program and reshaping of most trunk roads within the district. He lastly congratulated all assembly members for ensuring peace and harmony within the district.
The District Chief Executive for the Denkyembour District; Honourable Seth Birikorang Ofosu was called upon to deliver his sessional address to the house. He began by expressing his gratitude to all members present.
He centred his address on Finance, Security, Developmental Projects, Education, Health, Agriculture, Community and Social Development and Administrative issues.
On Finance, he mentioned that the assembly as at 31st March, 2023 had realized total IGF revenue of GHC 182,102.60 as compared with total IGF revenue budget of GHC 1,440,000.00 which represented 12.65% of the budget. The total budgeted expenditure for the period stands at GHC 1,440,000.00 and the total actual expenditure of GHC 172,724.16 which represent 12.00% of the expenditure budget.
On issues of health, the Directorate embarked routine public health and clinical activities which included health screening in Akwatia. Also, training on nutrition was undertaken in some selected school within the district.
On Education, he mentioned that the organised a successful 66th Independence Day Celebrations in Akwatia. There was also the organization of inter-school under-13 soccer for boys and under-12 handball competition for girls. He added that registration had begun towards the 2023 BECE.
Lastly on issues of Agriculture, he stated that 28 vegetable farmers were trained on Integrated Pest Management within the district. Also, 27 farmers were trained on improved breeding of farm animals such as ruminants, poultry and pigs.
He then presented the report from the Executive Committee and reports from the seven sub-committees of the assembly. The house approved the DCE sessional address which included the Executive Committee report.
The Presiding Member in his concluding remarks expressed his gratitude to all members and heads of departments including Nananom and the representatives of the religious bodies for taking time out of their busy schedules to attend the meeting.