The Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (SPEFA) group, within the Adentan Municipality has held a forum to update themselves on key developmental issues concerning their communities.

The forum, the third in a series, was organised by Intervention Forum (IF) and the SNV-Ghana, two non-governmental organisations, to educate the group on the activities of the Adentan Municipal Assembly (AdMA).

The SPEFA group also serves as a pressure group to monitor the activities of the AdMA to ensure sanity, transparency and accountability in the administration of the municipality.

The group comprises representatives of AdMA, women and farmers’ organisations, unit committees, religious groups, and traditional leaders.

Previous forums touched on development planning, budgeting and revenue management.

Welcoming the participants, Mrs Nora Ollennu, Chief executive Officer of IF and also the focal person for Adentan District Citizen Monitoring Committee (DCMC), expressed the need for such regular forums.

This, she noted, would empower members to be well informed about key developmental functions of the AdMA and regularly and meaningfully interact with officials with a view to promoting transparency and accountability.

“SPEFA is a network of citizens group that engages local government authorities on public financial management and we can only achieve this when we avail ourselves to be empowered with in-depth knowledge and skills on the issues,” she explained.

Mrs Ollennu said SPEFA is a platform for learning, adding: “Being a SPEFA member, automatically you have become the voice of the voiceless of the constituent you represent and therefore it is your responsibility to share information to your members,” she said.

Mr Moro Muhassan, Municipal Procurement Officer, took the group through the Public Procurement Act of 2003 (Act 654), importance of the procurement process, and its regulatory framework for procurement and asset management.

He touched on planning, sourcing, contracting and contract management through to storing procured items, distribution, disposal and evaluation processes.

Mr Nanai Harrison, Municipal Estate Officer, gave a lecture on the acquisition and registration of assets.