News Categories: Community

In its quest to promote good governance, transparency and social accountability, the Kwahu West Municipal Assembly on Thursday, 14th November 2019, held its last Town Hall Meeting for the year at the auditorium of the Grace Presbyterian Church, Nkawkaw Adoagyiri to engage its citizens and account for its stewardship.

Addressing the gathering, the Municipal Chief Executive for the Kwahu West Municipal Assembly, Hon. Yaw Owusu Addo said, the town hall meeting was part of government’s intervention to ensure transparency in administering the affairs of the nation.

According to him, the Assembly had initiated several projects within the Municipality and key amongst them were the construction of 6-unit classroom block with headteacher’s office, a store and a staff common room at Kwahu Jejeti, construction of bungalows for the Police at Nkawkaw Central Police Station, construction of 6 – unit classroom block at Kwahu Daa, construction of 10 boreholes in selected communities in the municipality.

The Hon. MCE again said, one of the major challenges faced by the Assembly is the non-payment of rates and taxes by the citizens thus he called on all to honour their tax obligations regularly in order for the Assembly to raise enough revenue to complete the numerous developmental projects that were ongoing in the Municipality.

He expressed his gratitude for the patronage the meeting had received and as well expressed his optimism that the observations made by the stakeholders would help the Assembly fine tune its activities and development agenda for the Municipality.

Present at the end-of-year Town Hall Meeting were the Municipal Coordinating Director,the Hon. Presiding Member for Kwahu West Municipal Assembly, Heads of Security Institutions, Head of Departments of the Assembly, Traditional leaders, Religious leaders and the Press

As part of its mandate to promote and implement government policies at the local level, deliver quality public services and improve social inclusion, the Municipal chief Executive for Kwahu West Municipal Assembly, Hon. Yaw Owusu Addo and his entourage made up key staff of the Assembly visited and organized a one day community engagement programme on February 7, 2019 for people living in and around Ensonyameye and Kwadua communities.

The purpose of the programme was:
 Interact with the chiefs and people to get firsthand information on the challenges they face and how best the Assembly can address them.
 To sensitize the community members on women’s right in order to highlight the need to lease out land to women for farming making women economically sound
 To check on the activities of the WATSAN for effective and efficient management of Water and Sanitation in the community
A total of 41 people participated in the programme and they included chiefs and elders, religious leaders, opinion leaders, staff of the Kwahu West Municipal Assembly and community members.

In a brief address, Hon. Odei Isaac, a Unit Committee Member for Ensonyameye welcomed everyone and thanked the Hon. MCE and the team for taking time off their busy schedules and commitments to honour them with such a programme. He admonished all participants to pay rapt attention and be doers of what they will learn and carry the good messages to their families and friends who for one reason or the other could not make it to the programme.

5. ADDRESS BY THE MUNICIPAL CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Hon. Yaw Owusu Addo, the Municipal Chief Executive for Kwahu West Municipal Assembly thanked the Chiefs and people of Ensonyameye and Kwadua communities for their warm reception. He highlighted the activities of the Assembly as well as the development plans for the respective communities and the entire municipality. He also talked about “women’s right” which he explained as the appropriation for a condition, purpose, occasion under which women can strive and attain an appreciable status in society. He again outlined the factors hindering the rights of women in our society;
i)Violence against woman; women all over the world face widespread violence, sexual harassment and abuse in many of the spaces that they find themselves ie. homes, workplaces, on the streets and on the public transport.
ii) Economic rights; community development advocates for decent jobs for women, fair taxes to reduce inequalities and to see a fairer division of unpaid care work.
iii) Women’s control over their bodies; women and girls are forced many a times to endure harmful practices that cause them great suffering ie. stop female genital mutilation, early or forced marriage etc.
iv)Women having less access to Land; women have less access to land as a means to enable them to be engaged in farming activities. This will go a long way to help women farmers to become more successful and support the family financially after they have sold the proceeds of the farm.
Concluding his address he urged everyone to continue paying their taxes and join in communal labour whenever they are called upon to do so.

Mr. Sarpong Maxwell oriented the participants on uses and management of Water and Sanitation as well as the importance of the Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Committee. He called on the WATSAN Chairman and his team to render account of their dealing with the bore-hole in the community. After going through their account books, Mr. Sarpong realized a little bit of discrepancies in their books. He went ahead to advice the caretakers and the WATSAN committee members to do proper account so that their bore-hole can be fixed whenever it breaks down.

The Chiefs and people of the communities said their major challenges were lack of portable drinking water, poor sanitation and the illegal sand winning.
Madam Tiwaa called on the men and the elders in the community to release to woman for farming.

In his Closing remarks, Hon. MCE said had noted their concerns with grave interest and assured them that the Management of the Assembly will take the necessary steps to ensure their challenges are addressed.
Mr. Maxwell Sarpong informed the participants that the programme was organized under the auspices of the Kwahu West Municipal Assembly led by the Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Yaw Owusu Addo. He added that the Assembly is working very hard to bring needed development that would improve their living conditions. Thus, he called for their full support for Assembly’s on-going programmes and projects. Finally, he thanked the participant for coming in their numbers and their comportment and said the office of the community development is always open for future correspondence.

On Friday, September 7, 2018, the Kwahu West Municipal Assembly of the Eastern Region distributed assorted items to support some 68 persons with disabilities (PWDs) to improve their living standards. The items, which are to help the beneficiaries venture into commercially viable activities, were procured from their share of the common fund allocated to the Assembly.

Persons with disabilities(PWDs) have a 3% share of all quarterly releases of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) meant for their upkeep. The Fund was previously disbursed in cash to physically challenged persons for their use.

The government, however, took a decision that instead of handing out cash to the beneficiaries which they usually dissipated in no time, it was better to ensure that the money was used to secure sources of living with their consent.

In compliance with this directive therefore, the Assembly decided to use the funds to set them up in small business ventures which would help improve their economic status instead of taking the cash.

At a brief ceremony held at the Assembly’s premises to distribute the items, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Hon. Yaw Owusu Addo, presented some brand new refrigerators deep freezers, sewing machines and some electrical appliances to the beneficiaries to enable them to start businesses on their own and become self-reliant.

Hon. Owusu Addo with the assistance of the Municipal Coordinating Director, Alhaji Musah Issah, also presented gas ovens, plastic chairs as well as some food items and livestock, based on the requests made by some of the beneficiaries.

According to the Hon. MCE, a total of GHȼ90,894.55 was spent to procure the items for the beneficiaries who were made up of 43 physically challenged persons, 14 visually impaired as well as 11 others suffering from hearing impairment. The items were received directly by the individual beneficiaries.

Present at the ceremony were the Chairman of the Ghana Federation for the Disabled in the Municipality, Joseph Abankwa and Joseph Adu who is also the Chairperson of the Assembly’s Disability Fund Management Committee, Presiding Member of the Assembly, Assembly members, HODs and staff of the Kwahu West Municipal Assembly as well as the Media.

In line with their commitment to ensuring that ongoing road construction in the Kwahu West Municipality meet acceptable standards, Hon. Eric Kwakye Darfour, who doubles as the MP for Nkawkaw Constituency and the Eastern Regional Minister together with the MCE of Kwahu West Municipal Assembly, Hon. Yaw Owusu Addo toured the Municipality to inspect the on-going road projects Nkawkaw Township.
The project which is funded by the Ghana Road Fund (GRF) commenced in December, 2017 and is expected to be completed within eighteen (18) months.
The project which is a 10km bituminous surfacing is being undertaken by Berock Ventures Limited and it will cover the following areas: Nkawkaw SHS – Domeabra road, Adoagyiri & white house, ADB – Assembly road, Asuogya junction –Betrams, Krofofrom stretch, Starting point (Residency Road).
The roads when completed will ease traffic congestions in the Nkawkaw Township. The road network will also improve accessibility to places which hitherto were inaccessible during the raining seasons. Furthermore, it is the expectation of the people of Kwahu West who have been deprived of good road networks in such a long time that the completed roads will boost economic activities.
At the end of the visit both the Regional minister and the Hon.MCE expressed their satisfaction at the work done so far and urged the contractor to speed up work to meet the stipulated time.

The Business Advisory Centre (BAC) of Kwahu West Municipal Assembly has supported 8 artisans in the Kwahu West Municipality with assorted tool boxes as start-up kits worth over GHC 12,000 to set them up for business. The artisans made up of 3 carpenters, 3 Auto mechanics and 2 Auto electricians were also advised to work assiduously to generate funds to cater for themselves and their families.
In a brief speech, Mr. Stephen Amoako, acting Head of BAC in Kwahu West disclosed that the support came from the central government through the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) under the Rural Enterprise Programme (REP). He explained that the BAC is the extension office of the NBSSI which ensures easy access to all relevant information and guidance that would make the entrepreneur an all-rounded, competent and confident person. He added that the BAC gives training, counselling and support to individuals and business associations. The centre also facilitates access to enabling business environments and credit for entrepreneurs.
According to him, the BAC in Kwahu West is enjoying tremendous support from the Hon. MCE and MCD of the KWMA and he ceased the opportunity to thank them for their unflinching assistance.
Closing his remarks, Mr. Amoako advised the beneficiaries to put the tools to good use bearing in mind that his outfit will visit their workshops periodically to monitor the progress of their work and help them solve some of the challenges they may face in future.
Presenting the tools boxes to the beneficiaries, Hon. Yaw Owusu Addo, MCE of KWMA said the gesture was in line with the NPP Government’s promise to create sustainable jobs.
According to him, the NPP government came to meet near empty coffers due to the high corruption perpetrated by the previous government and called for patience as the government, led by an honest, President is poised to create sustainable jobs and improve the standard of living for Ghanaians.
He added that in an era where artisans find it difficult to raise capital after they complete their apprenticeship programme he deems the support as timely and urged the beneficiaries to use the tools for the purposes which they were intended for.
He also advised the beneficiaries to be innovative, make use of modern day technology and do quality work for rapid growth and sustainability.
The Hon. MCE reiterated that the Assembly will monitor their operations through the BAC and advised them to be good stewards of the tools they have received.
On behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr. Mohamadu Rabiu thanked the BAC, KWMA and the NPP government for their support and stated that they (the beneficiaries) will use the tools that in future the assembly will be inspired to support others.