The Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly (YKMA) on Wednesday, 5th July, 2023 held its first ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the third Assembly.
The meeting which was held in the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly Hall was presided over by the Presiding Member (PM), Hon. Robert Kwasi Agede,
and was graced by Heads of Departments and Institutions, Heads of Security Agencies and other distinguished invited guests.
The Presiding Member commended all the Assembly Members present for the selfless and sacrificial work they had done to improve
the welfare of the people in their respective electoral areas, and formally informed members of the untimely
demise of the Assembly Member of Sra Electoral Area, Hon. Eric Narh Kwao Agblazo, which occurred on Easter Monday, the 10th of April, 2023 through a motor accident.
In his sessional address, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Hon. Eric Tetteh thanked the Almighty God for
making it possible for them to meet once again to fulfill a mandatory requirement pursuance to section 28 (2)(a) the Local Governance Act, 2016 Act 936 which states thus “the District Chief Executive shall
present a report on the performance of the functions of the Executive Committee of the office of the District Chief Executive as well as of
the state of the district to the District Assembly at the beginning of each session.”
The MCE in his address acknowledged and appraised the work they had done so far and what the future holds in stock focusing
on Revenue Performance, Security, Agriculture, Education, Health, Projects/Programmes, among others.
On Revenue Performance, Hon. Eric Tetteh stated that as of 31st March, 2023, the Assembly had collected as its
Internally Generated Fund (IGF) GHS372, 968.00 representing 78.29% of targeted figure of GHS476, 429.95 and
constituting 20% of its ANNUAL BUDGET target of GHS1, 905,719.81. Also, the Assembly received from external sources
an amount of GHS42,913.70 for the decentralized departments, representing 48.22% of the Annual budgeted figure of GHS89,000.00 and GHS10,000.00 for the PWD Fund representing 4.65% of the Annual budgeted figure of GHS215,052.49.
The MCE stressed on Public Education on payment and collection of Property Rate, computerized data collection and billing of Business Operation Permit (BOP) in order to drive home on the need to pay development fees, business operating fees as well
as intensifying supervision and monitoring of revenue collection activities in the Revenue Improvement Action Plan (RIAP, and added, that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has now been given the task
to collect property rate on behalf of the Assembly using Electronic Cashless System designated as www.myassembly.gov.gh. According to the MCE, the GRA so far had registered 17,769 properties in the municipality for
that purpose but had been able to capture less than 1,000 properties due to the attrition rate of revenue collectors initially recruited, and added, that currently, the GRA employed six (6) people to help with data collection and revenue mobilization in that respect.
On security, the MCE indicated that the Municipality had enjoyed relative peace and tranquility as a result of sacrifices and the good work of Security Personnel, agencies and the effective collaboration among the members of the Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) in the period
under review though there had been few cases of robbery/theft/burglaries, drug abuse, and smoking of substances. Hon. Eric Tetteh however, talked about cases of land related disputes and
administrative boundary issues with adjourning districts and further stated that the Assembly in collaboration with the Lincensed Surveyors Association of Ghana (LiSAG),
Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) had organized two stakeholder meetings in Nkurakan and Trom to identify rightful owners to avoid land litigation going forward.
On Agriculture, the MCE disclosed that the weather condition for the quarter was generally not good for agricultural activities with very few rainfalls.
He indicated that the period under review had no release of funds from Government of Ghana or MAG (Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana) for activities implementation and this had largely affected the Department of Agriculture’s ability to implement all planned activities.
Notwithstanding the challenge, Hon. Eric Tetteh disclosed that the department recorded success in technology dissemination to farmers through home and farm visits to farmers during the quarter.
On issue of pest and diseases control, the MCE indicated that the Department of Agriculture recorded Fall Army Worm infestations on over 150 hectares of farmlands for the period under review and the department applied various insecticides
to combat the disease even though Bacterial Black Spot (BBS) disease continues to cause massive devastation to a lot of Mango farmers in the municipality. Hon. Eric Tetteh however disclosed that no fertilizer or seed was received within the period under review for the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.
On Education, the MCE indicated that the Assembly had put in some measures to periodically supply dual desks (800 desks) to schools, advocating for
the completion of all abandoned/uncompleted schools in the municipality inter alia to overcome some challenges such as bad state of classroom blocks, inadequate school furniture as well as to curtail the encroachment on school lands,
litigation over school lands, lack of decent accommodation for teachers in the rural areas, inadequate classrooms, Dormitory space, dining hall space and beds in the public Senior High Schools to ensure the delivery of quality education in the municipality.
On Health, the MCE disclosed that the Assembly had supported the Health Department within period under review to provide quality Healthcare delivery to the citizens of the municipality.
This support included construction of CHPS Compounds and Health Centres at Aboabo and Aboa Osuborniya and efforts to improve on Doctor and Nurse to patient population ratio.
Hon. Eric Tetteh therefore stated that the Doctor to patient population ratio for the first quarter stood at 1:15,660 whereas that of the Nurse stood at 1:567 which was an improvement on the 2022 ratio.
On HIV/AIDS prevalence, the MCE stated that the prevalence rate among the adult population aged 15-49 was 5.84% in the first quarter of 2023 and there were new infections recorded for the period involving 28 males and 53 female.
He talked about the need to address this worrying trend in line with the Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to ensure that there is a progressive effort towards the realization of the United Nations Agenda for Zero HIV by 2030.
Hon. Eric Tetteh also disclosed that the Municipality was able to maintain zero malaria case fatality as a result of implementation of Malaria Prevention Strategies and adherence to malaria case management protocols and there was no prevalence of malnutrition recorded among children 0-5 years in the first quarter.
The Municipal Assembly also supported the Health Department in organizing one quarterly meeting of the District Health Committee and Public Health Emergency Committee Meetings, added the MCE.
On National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the MCE said that the total population with valid NHIS cards in the Municipality stood at 11,953. Births and Deaths Registry in the Municipality on the other hand recorded about 672 births in the first quarter and also registered 52 deaths in the same period.
On medical screening for food and drink vendors and handlers to ensure that those who sell food operate under hygienic condition, the MCE indicated that the Environmental Health Unit organized a mass medical screening exercise
for those involved within the period under review in areas of communicable diseases such as Hepatitis B and Typhoid which involved a total of 1,707 persons in the screening exercise.
On projects/Programmes, the MCE mentioned a number of roads projects awarded on contract to include Mount Mary College of Education Junction to Mount Mary College of Education road; Bosotwi to Akpo road
and Wawanya to Samlesi road, and disclosed how it became necessary for him to have mobilized some community members of Somanya to assist him filled potholes and desilted the gutters from Akutunya market
to Somanya roundabout and commended those who availed themselves for the said exercise when he called on them for their support.
On Social interventions, the MCE indicated that cash transfers had been made to orphans, vulnerable children, the elderly and people with extreme vulnerabilities within the period as beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program.
Hon. Eric Tetteh in his conclusion intimated that management was eternally indebted to the Honorable Assembly Members for their collaboration and unflinching support and for allowing management to perform their duties without interference, and also thanked the staff whose appropriate blend of zeal, hard work, timeliness and enthusiasm helped to perform effectively and efficiently.