The people of Shama and its surrounding communities have benefited from a number of social interventions and projects initiated by the Shama District Assembly over the past three years which have boosted socio-economic activities in the area.

Some of the notable projects and interventions included construction of a sea defence wall at Aboadze, electrification of 15 communities, upgrading of Shama Health Centre into polyclinic status, street naming project, and free distribution of school uniforms among basic school pupils as well as construction of classroom blocks and administrative blocks for the district educational directorate.

Addressing a stakeholders’ forum in Shama, on Tuesday, Mr. Enoch Kojo Appiah, the District Chief Executive (DCE), said under the sustainable rural water and sanitation project, the Assembly had completed 10 mechanized bore-holes.

He said the Assembly also built five institutional latrines and offered training to 136 persons in batik, tie and dye, grass cutter rearing, bee keeping, gari and oil palm processing, among other employable skills.

He added that a district fire station, police post, classroom blocks and a number of Community-based Health Post Services (CHPS) compounds had been constructed in various communities with funds from the District Assemblies’ Common Fund, District Development Fund, MP’s Common Fund, as well as central government and donor supports.

The event, dubbed: “People’s Forum” was organized by the Assembly in partnership with Friends of the Nation (FON), a Takoradi-based non-governmental organization and funded by OXFAM.

It offered a platform for the inhabitants of the area to scrutinize the performance of the Assembly and demanded accountability with regards to the use of public resources.

It was held on the theme, “Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Active Citizenship for Shama’s Development”

The DCE announced that a total of GHC421,260 .00 was paid to 853 households under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) last year, aimed at alleviating poverty among most vulnerable people in society.

Mr. Appiah also indicated that 34 public schools in the District were enrolled onto the School Feeding Programme and announced that a sum of GHC582, 728.00 was paid to 13 caterers for services rendered for the schools during the 2013/2014 academic year.

He noted that the performances of candidates for the Basic Education Certificates Examination (BECE) had witnessed massive improvement recording 72.28 percent in 2013 and 54.1 percent passes in 2014 respectively.

The DCE indicated that the Assembly took delivery of two motorbikes and two Nissan Pick-Ups, which had been donated to the District Educational Directorate for supervision and monitoring and expressed the hope that it would improve academic standards in the District.

The Executive Director of Friends of the Nation, Mr. Donkris Mevuta, said the NGO deemed its association with the forum as its commitment towards promoting active citizenship and social accountability in the district and the country at large.

He added that the platform had provided opportunity for the people to participate and share ideas on local governance and decision-making process, as well as enhancing community engagements.

He intimated that the NGO had worked closely with the assembly on establishing a land-use planning and spatial development framework for the district and also facilitated the training of community environmental monitoring group that had engaged in advocacy and environmental monitoring of activities in the oil and gas sector.

The Executive Director assured that the NGO would continue to compliment the Assembly’s development efforts and promote social accountability at all times.

Madam Alberta Attoh, a resident in the district, expressed delight for providing a platform for the inhabitants to express their concerns with regards to developmental issues and noted that it would keep the Assembly on its toes.

She indicated that it had provided opportunity for the people to acknowledge the development projects being implemented by government, and also served as a feedback mechanism for the Assembly.

Madam Sarah Cudjoe, also a resident in the District, appealed to the government to equip the newly constructed CHPS compounds with the requisite equipment, to promote primary healthcare.