By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, Oct. 21, GNA- Nana Aboa Boahemaa, the President of the Sunyani Market Women Association has called on the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), to use their Internally Generated Funds (IGFs) purposely for development.
She said if the MMDAs utilised the IGFs judiciously and for development purposes, “glaring for everybody to see,” it would make revenue collection or mobilisation easier for the collectors.
Nana Boahemaa, also the Dwantoahemaa (sub-queen) of the Sunyani Traditional Are said it was often “annoying” for the market women and traders to pay market tolls when they did not see the corresponding developments at the marketplace.
She made the call at a stakeholder’s engagement on an adolescent project being implemented in the Sunyani West and Sunyani Municipalities. It was attended by representatives from the Municipal Assemblies, traditional authorities, Ghana Health Service, the Ghana Education Service and civil society organisations.
The three-year Adolescent project is being implemented by the Sunyani-based Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), a media advocacy, human rights and anti-corruption NGO, with funding from Fondation Bortnar, a Swiss Philanthropic foundation.
Titled “Resilient City for Adolescent Project” (RC4A), GloMeF in partnership with Indigenous Women Empowerment Network and Citizens Watch Ghana, both NGOs, are implementing the 300,000-pounds sterling project.
Nana Boahemaa, who represented Nana Akosua Asor Sika Brayie II, the Paramount Queen Mother of the Sunyani Traditional Area, called on the authorities at the Sunyani Municipal Assembly to improve conditions at the Nana Bosoma Central and the Sunyani Main markets.
She added that traders, market women, food venders and other shop owners, would not be adamant in paying their tolls or fees whenever the Assembly’s revenue collectors approached them.
This would enhance the Assembly’s revenue mobilisation drive, thereby enabling it to generate the needed income for development.
Nana Boahemaa lauded the implementation of the RC4A project, and commended the NGOs and their partners, saying the project implementation was having impact on the adolescents.
In a highlight, Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GloMeF explained the project sought to empower adolescents in Sunyani socially, politically and economically to be active citizens.
GNA