Accra, July 1, GNA – Mrs Jennifer Dede Afagbedzi, the Municipal Chief Executive of La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly (LaNMMA), entreated vagrants to be law-abiding to avoid being on the wrong side of the law.
She urged vagrants to endeavour to abreast themselves with the Assemblies bye-laws because ignorant of the law was no excuse.
Mrs Afagbedzi was speaking at a sensitization workshop on the local Assembly bye-laws held at the LaNMMA Assembly Hall.
The sensitization was organized by Crime Check Foundation (CCF) as part of the implementation of the CCF-OSIWA partnership dubbed: “Decriminalizing Vagrancy Laws and Advocacy” project.
The project seeks to create an enabling environment for vagrants to know, claim and exercise their rights and responsibilities in Ghana.
It is also to increase public awareness on vagrancy laws and their effects on vagrants in Ghana, increase citizen’s capacity and oversight to monitor vagrancy laws and their effects on the poor and homeless.
She said the Municipality could only develop through the collective efforts of the Assembly and its people.
“The Assembly will thrive when its people are responsible, cooperative and do well economically. Being law-abiding will propel LaNMMA to become a good example for others to emulate,” she said.
Mrs Dede Afagbedzi commended the Management of CCF and OSIWA for the initiative, which would help solve the seeming disconnection between the Assembly and its people, as well as reduce fines and imprisonment.
In another development, citizens of LaNMMA have called on the Assembly to constantly engage and sensitize them on the local bye-laws.
They said it would keep them informed about the laws to reduce violations, arrests, fines and imprisonment.
For most participants, including elected Members of LaNMMA, it was the first time they were participating in any sensitization programme on the local bye-laws.
They said that lack of adequate knowledge on the laws contributed to high incidences of arrests, harassment, as well as fines and imprisonments under the laws.
They, therefore, called on the Assembly to organize regular sensitization programmes on radio, and make the bye-laws publicly available on Assembly websites.
They called for print-outs of the laws to be distributed to elected Members of the Assembly and Unit Committee Members, who must further sensitize citizens in the Electoral Areas and Unit Committees.
The event allowed officials of LaNMMA to explain the various bye-laws that are often violated by citizens and the consequences they face.
Various examples of arrests, harassment, abuses, fines, and imprisonments were cited during the programme.
Citizens also voiced their concerns they had concerning the bye-laws.
The project, which runs from May 2021 to May 2022, is implemented in 12 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in three Regions: Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Central.
GNA