Tarkwa-Nsueam Municipal Assembly approves composite budget

The Tarkwa Nsueam Municipal Assembly has held its third ordinary meeting of the fourth session to discuss and approve its 2015 composite budget.

In her sessional address, Mrs Christina Kobinah, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) noted that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) are required to approve their composite budgets for the succeeding year by the end of October for inclusion in the national budget which is expected to be presented to Parliament before the end of the year.

She said the composite budget is supposed to be prepared by the budget committees of the MMDAs and it should be prepared strictly be in line with the approved national budget.

The MCE said that the key requirement in the preparation and approval of the budgets is for the various assemblies to present their draft budgets at the regional budget hearing for vetting.

Mrs Kobinah said this year, the Western Region Budget hearing was held at the Takoradi Polytechnic auditorium.

She said the Municipal Assembly's draft budget has been presented to the Executive Committee of the assembly for further discussion.

According to the MCE, the committee has studied the draft document and made recommendations which have been incorporated into the budget.

Mrs Kobinah said considering the processes that the budget has been taken through, the executive committee has recommended that the document should be approved by the assembly.

She appealed to the public to keep their surroundings clean and practice personal hygiene to prevent people from contracting cholera.

Mrs Kobinah said the assembly is doing its best with the limited resources to contain the cholera outbreak in the area and called on the public to report any suspected case of the disease to the health authorities.

She congratulated Mr Matthew Adu-Twum of Hooper Memorial Special School and Miss Mary Hazel of Fiaseman Senior High School for winning awards at this year's National Teachers Awards ceremony.

Mrs Kobinah said the executive committee has recommended that a kente cloth should be presented to each of the award winners for their hard work and also encourage teachers within the municipality to give of their best.

The Member of Parliament for Tarkwa Nsueam, Mrs Gifty Kusi commended the MCE for reporting in her sessional address that , the preparation of the Medium Term Development Plan for the period 2014-2017 is on course and that the team is working to ensure its implementation.

She said this was a step in the right direction because it would help the assembly to focus its attention on identified key development challenges facing the municipality and enable the assembly to work as a team to improve the living conditions of the people they are serving.

Mrs Kusi said the assembly’s revenue performance for the first half of this year has not been encouraging and therefore, called on the house to do everything possible to ensure that the situation is reversed in the coming years.