The Ekumfi District Assembly has invested in some development projects in the last four years to increase access to quality basic education and other services for the people.
The projects, which include classroom blocks and government’s initiatives in Agriculture, have either been completed or at various stages of completion.
The new classroom blocks with place of convenience, offices, and library are at Narkwa, Asaman and Adansi.
School blocks at Ekumpoano Catholic Junior High School (JHS), Srafa kokodo Methodist JHS, Srafa Aboano D/A JHS, Otuam Methodist Primary School and Otuam Methodist JHS are being renovated while at Estibeedu D/A basic school block an office complex is under construction.
Mr Ebenezer Money, Ekumfi District Chief Executive (DCE), who announced this at the Assembly’s meeting at Essarkyir, said the projects and programmes were being financed from the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), Responsive Factor Grant (RFG) and Internally Generated Fund (IGF).
He informed the house that the district was a beneficiary of the Ghana Productive safety net-Project (GPSNP) Phase 2, a World Bank/ DFID/Government of Ghana funded project aimed at supporting government to strengthen safety net systems to support the poor in the society.
The DCE stated that the district was currently implementing two sub-projects namely the climate change and feeder roads sub-projects.
According to him the climate change sub-project involved the rehabilitation of 20 hectares of degraded land at Asaman and 20 hectares at Attakwa where a total of 6,600 coconut seedlings were planted, generating 193 unskilled labour at the two plantations
He said the feeder roads sub-project involved the rehabilitation of 3.5 kilometer feeder road from Adansimaim to Gyabenkwa with 87 unskilled labourers working on the road.
On IGF, the DCE said an amount of CHC79,377.12 representing 90.72 percent of the budged amount of CHC 87,550.00 for the period was generated as compared to CHC 79,082.56 realised the same period in 2023.
He indicated that the Assembly performed marginally better than the previous year and urged the Members to educate their communities to continue paying their fees and rates to the assembly to supplement the DACF for development.
He said the Assembly in 2023 performed incredibly well in its IGF mobilisation drive, culminating in an amount of GHC 273,983 representing 97.85 percent of the targeted GHC280,000.00.
He stated that the commendable feat could be attributed to the strict adherence to the strategies outlined in the Assembly’s Revenue Improvement Action Plan.
On scholarship, he announced that the Assembly within the period supported two students with financial assistance to the tune of GHC 3,000.00 to pursue their education at Cape Coast Technical University.
According to Mr Money, the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development as at the first quarter had disbursed an amount of GHC 112,600.00 from the Assembly’s Persons with Disabilities (PWD) fund to PWDs.
The meeting also made room for the house to ask the DCE and the District Coordinating Director to explain why the assembly was summoned before the Public Accounts Committee on the 2022 Audits Report.
According to the report, the Assembly had misappropriated an amount of CHC 690,000.00, representing 40 percent of the Common Fund meant for development projects to better the lots of the people.
The DCE and the Coordinating Director, in their responses, stated that the amount was not utilised outside activities of the Assembly and that the monies involved had not been misused.
After a lengthy deliberation on the matter, the house passed a motion, charging officials of the Assembly to provide the house with the full detailed expenditure statement for study to enable them educate members on the issue accordingly.
