Accra, Dec. 12, GNA - An aspiring Assembly Member for the Ngleshie Electoral Area, has promised to focus on priority issues such as grass ro= ot participation in decision making and tackling of sanitation, education, youth employment and security challenges.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Saturday, Mr Joseph Ot= oo whose electoral area lies in the Ashiedu Keteke Sub-metropolitan area of the Greater Accra Region said he would hit the road running to fulfil his promises if he got the nod in the District Assembly elections scheduled f= or December 28. He pledged to facilitate the rehabilitation of the Faecal Treatment Plant, near the Korle Lagoon, being undertaken by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).

Mr Otoo said after the r ehabilitation of the plant, he would encoura= ge households in the area without toilets to construct the facility, which would be connected to the plant at an affordable cost to make open defecation into drains and gutters a thing of the past. Mr Otoo a trained media personnel and a former staff of the Waste Management Department of the AMA stated that he would ensure that his experience and training had a positive impact on the people. He said he would offer effective leadership by involving the people in determining their needs together with the unit committee members. The aspiring Assembly Member who was a member of the Sub-Metropolita= n District Council noted that previous assembly members did not involve the=

people in decision making about development programmes and promised to reverse the trend. Mr Otoo said this would make the community an important stakeholder in matters affecting the well being of the area and active participant in lo= cal development activities to enable the people to take their destiny into th= eir hands. He stressed his determination to encourage the formation of School Management Committees (SMCs) to see to the effective management of public=

schools to improve the standard of education, which he described as the k= ey to development in the area.

The aspiring Assembly Member said he would ensure that the SMCs organised Open Days to reward brilliant students and to get the community= , parents and guardians actively involved in the activities of schools and prevent truancy. Mr Otoo said he would lead in efforts to establish an educational endowment fund to support brilliant but needy school students in the area= to improve the human resource base of the community. He said he would collaborate with the Ghana Police Service to establ= ish a neighbourhood watchdog committee to enhance security in the area. Mr Otoo said he was also committed towards the creation of small sca= le industries to create jobs for the teaming unemployed youth in the area.