CDD-Ghana engages citizens on the Medium Term Development Plan

By Samuel Akapule, GNA

Agandaa (U/E), Oct. 2, GNA - The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) is organising 100 durbars in 20 districts across the country as part of its project to get more citizens to participate and appreciate the ongoing discussions on the Medium Term Development Plans (MTDP).

The MTDP is being implemented by the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana.

Mr Paul Osei-Kuffuor, the Programmes Manager of CDD-Ghana in charge of the Northern Zone, disclosed this during a community durbar organised by Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment-Ghana (RISE-Ghana) in the Agandaa Community at Kandiga in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region. A number of such durbars had taken place, whilst others were ongoing.

The project, dubbed: “Promoting Social Accountability through Citizens Participation in Local Governance in Ghana,” is being implemented by CDD-Ghana and its local partners and sponsored by OSIWA.

Mr Osei-Kuffuor said a cardinal principle of CDD-Ghana was to empower the citizenry to participate effectively in the decision–making process at the decentralised levels to promote all-inclusiveness and open society in attaining optimum development results.

He said it was based on those principles that all groups of persons including Persons with Disabilities, women, the youth, opinion leaders and elders were invited to be part of the community durbars to make an input.

The event provided a platform for budget and planning officers to collate the contributions into their MTDP as well as to enable them to ask critical questions from duty bearers about development projects and progress.

Mr Umar Mohammed, the Assistant Director of the Kassena-Nankana West District, who stood in for the District Chief Executive, Clement Dandori, said the District was one of the largest in the Region with 132 communities making up 11 area councils. 

He said it would have been very difficult for the Assembly to collate all the views and aspirations of the citizens to be input into the Medium Term Development Plans without the support of CDD-Ghana and commended it for helping the Assembly to create the platform for the citizens to participate and share ideas.

The Budget Officer, Mr Seidu Soalihu, who took the community members through the Planning and Budgeting processes of the Assembly and the highlight of the 2017 Kassena-Nankana West Assembly’s Action Plan and Budget, told them that apart from the community durbars, the Assembly would also organise town hall meetings and public hearings to validate inputs gathered as part of preparation towards developing the MTDP and encourage the people to always participate in the process.  

Mr Awal Ahmed Kariama, the Executive Director of RISE-Ghana, said his outfit, with support from the District Education Committee, had organised five of such community durbars across the District.

He said the high level of attendance and participation was a clear indication that citizens were now becoming aware of the need to actively participate in the decision-making process in the decentralisation concept.

GNA

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