The La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly (LaDMA) has held its second quarter town hall meeting at the Calvary Apostolic Revival Church, with a call on the stakeholders to keep faith in the assembly system to help propel the development of the local economy by paying their rates on schedule.
The Town Hall meeting was organized under the theme: Participatory Planning and Budgeting: the Role of Stakeholders. The meeting was in the fulfilment of the Local Government Act 936 of 2016.
The Municipal Chief Executive for the assembly, Hon Solomon Kotey Nikoi disclosed that LaDMA through its judicious use of public funds to improve the lives of the people in the municipality was adjudged the Second best in the country in the first ever MMDA & PFM league table published by the Internal Audit Agency. On the performance, he mentioned ongoing and completed projects during the period under review.
The aim at projecting the 2024 planning and budgeting of the Assembly to the public is to actively involve stakeholders in the shaping of the future of the municipality.
He said to improve participatory democracy and to promote an all-inclusive governance for development, accountability, and transparency, the Assembly deem it appropriate to give an account of what has transpired up to the third quarter of the year 2023. He said the meeting was to seek the various views and support from the stakeholders in the run-up of the preparation and approval of 2024 Planning and budgeting for the running of the assembly administration in the ensuing year.
He said the Assembly has worked hand in hand with the traditional rulers, Developmental Partners and other Civil Society Organisations to jointly push developmental drive over the years.
He continued that the assembly has embarked on a number of programmes and projects that featured in the 2023 annual action plan and composite budget which includes government flagship programmes, physical projects and social interventions. According to him, the Agric Department has vaccinated 1000 pets against rabies and 8000 birds against new disease. He continued that the department has trained livestock farmers on improved farm sanitation and prevention of diseases to boost meat production in the local economy.
The Hon MCE mentioned that the YouStart has trained 131 in leadership, financial literacy, business management, bookkeeping, and tax compliance to reduced unemployment in the local economy.
On revenue, the MCE stated that the assembly employed a number of strategies to recoup all rates to meet 2023 IGF targets.
The MCE mentioned that several projects through IGF, DACF, and DDF have been completed and others are ongoing.
He said the completion of a 3 Unit Classroom blocks with ancillary facilities at St Anglican School, the La Salem Presby JHS, the ongoing 3 Unit 18 classroom blocks at La Wireless cluster of schools and the rehabilitation of South La ‘2’JHS. The road asphalting in the municipality, reshaping and patching of pothole, drains and fixing of streetlights are testimony of the assembly’s hand works.
Hon Solomon Kotey Nikoi called on stakeholders to join hands with the assembly to fight youth delinquency and its related complications, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, gambling, streetism, unlawful activities on the streets, sanitation, and boundary disputes, which has been the assembly major contests.
Hon Rita Odoley Sowah, the Hon MP for the La Dade-Kotopon Constituency spoke about breast cancer and its effects on women. She admonished the women in the municipality to go to the hospital to have their breast examined because early detection saves lives.
She further continued to say that she has come into an agreement with the hospital officials at La Polyclinic charge a subsided amount to enable women in the municipality to come for the breast cancer testing. She mentioned that she has made a deposit of Five Thousand Ghana Cedis to run the test of fifty women. She mentioned that other two organisations have paid Ten Thousand Ghana Cedis each to help run the test. Hon Rita Odoley Sowah encouraged the women to take advantage to know their breast status.