The Wassa East District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has engaged the chiefs and people of Sekyere Krobo on Social Auditing as part of its activities to deepen local governance.

The programme, which is to help the beneficiary communities to collectively identify some pressing developmental needs, is part of the Commission’s flagship programme of Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti-corruption programme (ARAP), with sponsorship from the European Union (EU).

The Wassa East District Director of the NCCE, Mr Andrew Acquah, said Social Auditing was an innovative mechanism, which enhanced citizen’s participation in local governance.

He said the exercise would help promote community ownership of development projects, increase awareness on the operations of local government and empower the people to demand accountability from duty bearers.

He reminded the people that political participation was not limited to voting and that citizens must make conscious efforts to get actively involved in local governance by monitoring and evaluating development projects in their communities, identify the problems and get the authorities to resolve them.

Touching on benefits to be derived from Social Auditing, Mr Acquah mentioned the raising of awareness and knowledge of the people, promoting citizen empowerment, strengthening community voice and enhancing transparency.

Assistant Social Development Officer at the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development of the Wassa East District, Mr Joel Archer, enlightened participants on the operations of the District Assembly with reference to the Local Government Act, 2016 (Act936).

The participants identified the lack of public places of convenience, containers for refuse, teachers’ quarters and extension of electricity to new sites as some development needs of the community.

A Seven-Member Committee was set up to initiate interactions with officials at the District Assembly for redress.