I will not endorse unilateral demolition - Ursula Owusu

Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West, says said she would not endorse any unilateral demolition of buildings in her constituency by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

She has therefore appealed to the Assembly to consult all stakeholders including residents before embarking on any form of demolition.

Mrs Owusu Ekuful said this during an accountability and responsiveness forum organised by Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), a think tank and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), a civil society organisation, to enable the MP to interact with her constituents.

The forum was also to create opportunity for Mrs Ekuful and her constituents to engage each other in critical open discourse, bringing campaign messages to focus on pertinent policy issues that impact the lives of the people.

She appealed to those who want to become entrepreneurs to visit her office to discuss how she could assist them to access the Youth Entrepreneurial Skills Fund.

She promised to use part her common fund to provide streetlights in areas in the constituency which do not have streetlight to boost security.

“I am also in talks with the Police on the formation of neighbourhood watch dog committees which will patrol…at night to help improve on the security situation in the constituency,” she said.

She noted that she had fulfilled some of the promises she made during her campaign to become MP.

These include the award of scholarships to 10 needy but brilliant students, interaction with constituents, and creation of a face book fan page, opening an office and making telephone contacts and dealing with sanitation challenges.

She expressed commitment to establish a constituency website, advocate full implementation of the Disability Act, and the provision of opportunities for entrepreneurial skills development for the youth.

Ms Mina Okuru, Communications Coordinator, CDD-Ghana, said the body with assistance from OSIWA, prior to the 2012 general election mounted platforms in 30 constituencies with the objective of creating opportunities for candidates and voters to engage in critical open discourse.

“This is not done to undermine any MP but with the intent that the community groups, citizens, media and others will use it to demand accountability from all successful parliamentary aspirants during their term of office,” she said.

CDD–Ghana hopes to take the accountability and responsiveness forum to the northern part of the country, she said.