Nakpaye residents educated on social auditing

A social auditing engagement has been held at Nakpaye in the East Gonja Municipality to educate residents and whip up their interest in the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of development projects in their community.

This Social auditing concept is to ensure that development projects are implemented in a manner that suits their interest.

The event, held at Nakpaye, and attended by community members and various interest groups, was organised by the East Gonja Municipal Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) as part of its Accountability, Rule of Law, and Anti-Corruption Programme (ARAP).

The ARAP, supported by the European Union, seeks to promote good governance by reducing corruption and improving accountability and compliance with the rule of law.

Mr Gariba Sato, East Gonja Municipal Director of NCCE, who explained the concept to the people, said social auditing was one of the ways of making duty-bearers accountable to the citizens.

He further explained that the programme allowed community members to have an interest in development projects being initiated by authorities in their communities, adding “It allows the community members to own development project that is within their community."

He encouraged the people to actively participate in the local governance process, and ensure that they examined programmes and policies being implemented in the community to promote accountability and transparency.

He advised them to continue to observe the COVID-19 safety protocols to reduce its spread.

Representatives from the Ghana Police Service and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice also spoke on corruption and the various ways members of the community could help to curb the canker in the country.

During the event, the participants weighed the needs of their community and prioritised them to influence duty-bearers to develop a comprehensive local development plan to address them.

A six-member committee was formed during the meeting to follow up on identified development challenges in the community to ensure that they were resolved for the benefit of the community.