The Tema West Municipal Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has held a social auditing and community assessment programme to empower community members to hold duty bearers accountable in their local developmental agenda implementation.

The exercise is also to assess the needs of the communities and prioritize them in order for the Tema West Municipal Assembly (TWMA) to construct an effective local development plan.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the programme, the Acting Director of NCCE, Tema West Municipality, observed that the exercise was an opportunity for the municipality to address developmental shortfalls that had been pressing for a long time and which had not caught the attention of local authorities.

Ms. Linda Kabukuor Doku reacted to the issue of whether NCCE, through the programme, would be able to influence development in the area by saying, “This is a national exercise and so it wouldn’t be carried out without any results, because the commission would ensure that the demands of the people are carried through to the local authorities.”

Ms. Doku said this would be done by forming a committee after the programme which would partner the NCCE to demand a response from the Assembly and this would serve as a check on the readiness of the assembly to address such concerns.

She observed that the NCCE was pushing for effective citizen participation in governance because her outfit had been frequenting the grass roots to get citizens involved, and that social auditing would make community members more involved in Community development.

Ms. Doku added that, “We go to even as far as the schools, communities, unionized groups and others, and with that we are able to reach out to everybody and that helps them to get their message across to the authorities.”

The Assembly Member for the Lashibi Electoral Area, Mr. Justice Yao Tettey, was thankful to the NCCE for coming out with such a programme, “Because this would assist me push for development in this area.”

Mr. Tettey observed that, “This is something I have been looking for some time, and it has been difficult. Sometimes you need somebody to back you to the authorities for them to know that what you are talking about is not your own mind but the demands of the people you are leading and you won’t get the opportunity."

He informed that with this initiative which involved the active participation of community members under the direction of the NCCE, his outfit could push for the developmental needs of the people with ease.

Mr. Tettey was happy his community members attended the NCCE programme and prayed they would continue to be active participants in the development of the Lashibi community.

The General Secretary of the Landlords and Ladies Association of Communities 16 and 17, Mr. Kwasi Amenuwor, in a passionate appeal, demanded that government empowered the community members more to champion the cause of their own development.

He also demanded that government involved community members in the planning, implementation and evaluation of developmental initiatives “so that we would be their partner in anything they do.”

Members voted Road Network and Drainage to be the number one priority developmental agenda the TWMA should consider in their planning for the area.

In the order of importance, the community members also considered school infrastructure, provision of Road Mapping and Street lights, Community Monitoring and Involvement and Road Markings as the major developmental concerns for the area.