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The recent Survey report by the Ghana Statistical Service has placed Sekyere Afram Plains District as the 3rd most poverty district in Ghana.
The district is one of the under developed districts in the Ashanti region and lacks several social amenities and many other development infrastructures such as roads, mobile networks, health facilities, electricity and educational resources.
The entire district has about 90 percent of the citizens as farmers and private sector workers.
This recent survey has proven to show that the district lacks many developmental projects mainly due to low internally generated funds to support the common fund from the government. In view of this, many of the activities in the district are solely dependent on the common and any delay in the release of the fund always delay activities and affect recurrent and other expenditures in the district.
A follow up by the Concern Citizens of the Sekyere Afram Plains District on what the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) which are always received has been used for in the district revealed that the district had not received common fund for many months in the year affecting the many activities and developmental projects in the district.
In a response to why these slow development is happening in the district, the Constituency Secretary of the governing NPP, Mr. Justice Amo indicated that all these are blamable on the Common Fund Administrator for delay in the release of the fund but not any other person or officer in the district.
The Constituency Secretary further stated that if the group wants any answer for the development of the district, they should rather go and ask the Common Fund Administrator when was the last time funds were released to the Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies ( MMDA’s) in Ghana.
The group was of the opinion that although there are challenges in the release of funds by the government, but many MMDA’S are still executing the projects and activities of their respective assemblies.
They therefore cannot fathom why Sekyere Afram Plains District is behaving differently and always pushing blames to the late release of the common fund.
They therefore charged the Assembly to be innovative to create channels for internally generated funding to improve the living standard of the district but not solely depend on the common fund as the only means of funding for the development of the district.
For further information:
Contact Mr. Boakye Yiadom ( President)
024225196
Wisdom Buer
Secretary
0244132900
