By Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Bolgatanga, April 07, GNA – The Rural Initiative for Self-Empowerment-Ghana (RISE-Ghana), has built the capacity of constituents of Bolgatanga Central in the Upper East Region, to demand accountability from Member of Parliament (MP) and other elected leaders to ensure good governance.
At a public education forum in Bolgatanga, the residents were taken through the significance of manifesto tracking and introduced to a newly developed tracker designed to monitor and assess performance of elected leaders based on their campaign promises.
This engagement followed a parliamentary dialogue organized by RISE-Ghana ahead of the 2024 elections where the MP and other aspirants made commitments regarding their intended policies and projects if elected.
Mr Isaac Adongo, the MP, promised to establish a teacher training college in the municipality, provide infrastructure to improve education, make available teaching and learning materials through the Ministry of Education, and work to improve road network in the area.
The exercise formed part of RISE-Ghana’s Democracy 360 project, being implemented in Bolgatanga Central, Bongo, and the Nabdam Districts under the STAR-Ghana-led Inclusive Elections and Accountable Governance programme funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO).
At the forum, Mr John Kaguna, a Project Officer at RISE-Ghana, emphasised that political promises were social contracts that had to be honored, hence the need to equip the electorate with the knowledge and tools necessary to hold their leaders accountable.
“In Ghana, political engagement tends to peak during election periods and fade away afterward. With Democracy 360, we aim to change this mindset by ensuring accountability every day, throughout an MP’s tenure,” Mr Kaguna stated
He further explained that while national manifestos provided broad policy directions, MPs made additional constituency-level pledges during campaigns, and these promises, he noted, served as the foundation for their election and had to be fulfilled to ensure transparency and accountability in governance.
RISE-Ghana, in collaboration with a 15-member inter-sectoral committee including representatives from political parties, civil society organisations, persons with disabilities, and
the media is spearheading efforts to track party manifestos, assess government performance, and engage citizens in governance processes
Ms Fauzia Abitor Haruna, a member of the inter-sectoral committee, noted that informed constituents played crucial role in strengthening democracy, fostering national development and urged the constituents to rally behind the committee to realise the needed development.
He said the project was set to run until 2028, with periodic assessments of MPs’ performance to ensure they remained accountable to their constituents.
GNA
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