Accra, Dec. 24, GNA – The Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) is to introduce GOVChat, a civic engagement platform, to maintain closer contact with the citizenry and engagement with government officials and communities in real time.
The platform would also strengthen local governance, improve service delivery and most importantly put the people first as part of efforts to deepen open governance, accountability and transparency in the local governance process.
The platform would be online, especially on WhatsApp, which could be used on any mobile handset to allow the citizenry to connect to local governance.
Mr Anthony K. K. Sam, the MCE of the Assembly, announced this during the Third Ordinary Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Seventh STMA sitting in Sekondi.
The Open Government Partnership of the STMA has also mooted five commitment areas namely; transparency and accountability, civic participation and Fiscal transparency, public service delivery, access to information and Sanitation.
The Assembly, he said, sought to adopt mart governance tools in the second action plan to ensure more openness, transparency, participation, innovation and transformation governance with the vision of building sustainable structures.
The MCE announced that projects under construction include 32 partitioned market sheds with external works at Diabene and Essikado, with 40 similar ones at Kojokrom and a fish smoking facility at Sekondi.
He said the Transport Department was working and, from January 2019, the Assembly would introduce the Route Operating Permit to operators to deepen regulation and instil discipline in the sector within the Metropolis.
« We have effectively engaged all transport operators for better understanding and cooperation, » Mr Sam said.
« The Assembly may introduce the ‘Borla Taxi’ concept for the collection of refuse in areas with poor road connections. Already, such areas have been identified for the tricycle collection to curtail indiscriminate dumping within the Metropolis. »
Mr Sam said the One-Household-to-One-Dust-Bin Project was ongoing after the distribution of over 100 bins to institutions to improve upon the sanitation situation.
The Assembly was also working with the Global Communities to provide household places of convenience to 100 landlords, he said, and expressed the hope that the project may be extended to other communities.
Touching on Education, Mr Sam said the Double Track had successfully been implemented in the STMA with a significant improvement in the Basic Education Certificate Examination results between 2013 and 2018.
He said plans were underway for the revision of the Assembly’s by-laws to make them more effective adding that following a gazette, the first capacity building training had been done to equip officials with skills and knowledge to effectively enforce the by-laws.
