By Francis Kwabena Cofie
Accra, April 28, GNA – The Ga East Municipal Assembly has held its first Town Hall Meeting for the year at Dome in Accra to account to the people and present its operational planned performance for 2025.
Present at the meeting were Madam Elikplim Akurugu, the Municipal Chief Executive; Mr Paul Bright Mintah, the Presiding Member of the Assembly; Dr Mrs Elizabeth Deletsa, the Municipal Coordinating Director; and various Heads of Departments, who responded to concerns raised by participants.
Officials from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) also participated in the programme and briefed the gathering on the causes of intermittent power outages in the municipality.
Madam Akurugu, in a welcome address read on her behalf, emphasised the importance of accounting to the people periodically in a participatory democracy to ensure transparency and accountability in governance.
She said the inputs, suggestions and development needs of the people were critical in formulating and implementing the Assembly’s development agenda to improve the living standards of residents.
Madam Akurugu noted that democratic governance prioritised giving citizens the opportunity to contribute to decision-making in development planning, adding that the Town Hall Meeting was one of the constitutionally mandated platforms for such engagement.
Presenting the 2025 Annual Action Plan, Madam Margaret Amemasor, the Municipal Planning Officer, said the Assembly achieved a little over 90 per cent of its planned activities in the year under review.
She mentioned some of the activities as reshaping and maintenance of roads, rehabilitation of schools, and the provision of desks for public schools.
Madam Amemasor indicated that despite the successes recorded, the Assembly continued to face challenges including recurrent flooding, inadequate funding, encroachment on public lands, drug abuse and child neglect.
She said sanitation remained a key development priority and announced the launch of the 24-hour Clean Ga East campaign, which would be strictly enforced to keep the environment and major streets clean.
She added that measures were being adopted to enhance the mobilisation of Internally Generated Funds (IGF) to support development projects in the municipality.
Educating participants on the Operation Clean Your Frontage campaign, Ing. Charles Asabre Ampomah, the Municipal Environmental Health Officer, said the 24-hour Clean Ga East programme sought to improve sanitation, public health and environmental sustainability.
He described the initiative as a renewed commitment by the Assembly to environmental stewardship and stressed that maintaining a clean environment was a shared responsibility.
Ing. Ampomah called on stakeholders, including government officials, traditional authorities, community leaders and residents, to demonstrate sustained commitment towards addressing sanitation challenges in the municipality.
During an open forum, participants raised concerns about intermittent power outages, drug abuse and encroachment on public lands.
In her closing remarks, Dr Mrs Deletsa thanked participants for their active participation and assured them that the Assembly would address the issues raised in line with its development plans.
She urged residents to support the development programmes of the Assembly by paying their taxes and complying with the bye-laws.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah