TO HELP disabuse his mind that his office was beyond criticisms, the district chief executive (DCE) for the Effigya Sekyere district assembly, Mr Ben Abankwah, last Friday, November 8, 2002, interesting questions regarding his administration. This occurred when the DCE sought to interact with residents of Kwamang, a farming community in Ashanti, during “questions and answers” forum held in the town.

The interaction, the first of its kind, sought to educate and sensitise residents about the policies and principles of the district assembly’s developmental efforts.

It was organised by the Co-operative Lead of the United States of America (CLUSA) under the auspices of the Government Accountability Improvement Trust (GAIT).

Most of the questions raised by the members of the community centred on the failures of the previous government and the current administration to provide them with good drinking water, electricity, modern school facilities, health institutions and motorable road network.

According to the Kwamang townsfolk, although the past government and the incumbent made numerous promises, none of those pledges has been honoured.

They, therefore, made a passionate appeal to the ruling government, through the district assembly, to expedite action and ensure that development is extended to them to help rescue the rural-urban migration phenomenon in the area.

The DCE, Mr Abankwa, became visibly provoked when a contributor, Victoria Owusu, accused the assembly of embezzling money that some members of the communities contributed into the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) of the assembly.

Although the DCE suffered some sort of humiliation, he was bold to explain that the money has been deposited in the bank, adding that government has not appointed them into public offices to embezzle state funds, but to serve, and that at the appropriate forum, the money would be used for the purposes for which they were collected.

Mr Abankwah, in a brief speech, promised the assembly’s full commitment to assist and provide the community with pipe-borne water before the end of 2003.

He also appealed to the townspeople to contribute about ?2 million toward projects. He also announced the assembly’s appropriation of millions of cedis from the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) fund for the construction of a modern school building that will include offices, toilet facilities, library and teachers’ bungalows.

He also hinted government’s intention to use Kwamang as the centre for the district’s health scheme project. Later, an appeal went to members of the community to initiate development projects themselves, since government alone cannot provide all their needs.

The DCE cautioned the citizens to guard against unnecessary creation of tension in the community since it disrupts and impedes development.

According to Mr Abankwah, as employable skills are the skills for employment, he advised parents to stop investing in impressive and rich funerals and rather provide for their children’s education.

“I must tell you that these days, employment is only guaranteed when the employee has employable skills” he observed.

He advised the traditional authorities in the area to deliberate on social events that tend to undermine social values and submit their concerns to the area council of the assembly for consideration and enactment of laws to ban them.