By Stanley Senya
Accra, Oct. 6, GNA – Siapha Kamara, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SEND Ghana, a subsidiary of SEND West Africa, has tasked citizens to monitor governmental programmes and projects in their communities to ensure their completion.
He said monitoring projects would serve as a drive tool for government to priorities Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and implement policies for immediate completion of needed infrastructures and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities in society.
He made the call at a forum held by the Ghana CSO’s platform on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in collaboration with SEND Ghana to collate citizens input into the 2024 national budget statement and economic policy,
He said the monitoring would help allocate adequate resources to sustain social protection programmes to prevent them from collapse.
“We should make sure the allocated funds are used for developmental projects in our communities.”
Mr Kamara stressed that it was the way to go as it was a moral issue for which citizens must take to ensure government invest in social protection for the vulnerable.
He said in the wake of the economic challenges currently confronting the country, it was important for the government to take tough decisions by shelving some budgeted projects in favour of social protection programmes such as the School Feeding Programme, the School Capitation Grant and the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).
He apart from LEAP which was doing well in terms of budgetary allocation and disbursement, all other social protection programmes were on the borderline of collapsing, therefore, it is essential to prioritise CSO’s in the 2024 budget allocation.
Mr Kamara stressed that the government should not consider sacrificing social protection programmes in the midst of the crisis because the beneficiaries were the most vulnerable in society.
“As a matter of priority, it is important that the Ministry of Finance and the respective sector ministries work to improve social protection budget execution by adopting measures to ensure timely release of funds or payments to beneficiaries and persons who provide services like GSFP caterers,” he added.
He urged the public to track budget projects and appealed to members to become project’s ambassadors in their respective communities.
Groups and stakeholders raised concerns about government expenditure in the education and health sectors hence, it is a menace for students and staffs in their respective sectors
GNA