Category: Events

The Oti Regional Coordinating Council in collaboration with the Krachi East Municipal Assembly embarked on “My First Day At School” visit to some selected basic schools in the municipality on Tuesday January 10th, 2023.

MEANING AND PURPOSE OF “MY FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL”

It is a government initiative which is always the visit of government officials such as Regional Ministers, MDCEs and Ghana Education Service Officials to basic schools on the first day of the reopening of basic schools, in every January of the academic year.

It is always organized as an opportunity for government officials as Regional Ministers, MDCEs and Ghana Education Service Officials to interact with the school children and teachers to know;

1. The enrolment of KG1, KG2 and new entrants to KG1.

2. The enrolment of Primary schools and Junior High Schools.

3. The challenges of schools visited.

4. Solutions to the challenges.

Hence, the visit of Hon. Joshua Gmayenaam Makubu, Oti Regional Minister, Mr. Issahaku Yakubu, Krachi East Municipal Coordinating Director and Mrs. Felicia Dorleku Officer in charge of early childhood education to Kwame Akura D/A Basic School, Dambai English and Arabic D/A Basic School, Dambai Old Town D/A Basic School and Monkrate D/A Basic School.

The visit begun at Kwame Akura D/A Basic School where Hon. Joshua G. Makubu asked the following questions;

1. Have you had Parent Association Meeting at the end of the last year?

2. What help has Assembly Member, Unit Committee and SMC renders to the school?

3. What is the enrolment of the school?

4. What are your challenges as a school?

The Head teacher of the school answered the first question that, the school and the Parent Association proposed to have the meeting early this term.

The Head teacher answered the second question that, the Assembly Member, Unit Committee and SMC are very helpful to the school by holding meetings with the teachers and conveying their challenges to the assembly.

The Head teacher ensure the third question by giving the enrolment of the school to be;

1. i. KG one (1) boys-17, girls-16 and total 33 pupils.
2. ii. KG two (2) boys 18, girls 7 and total 25 and the overall total KG one and two is 58 pupils.

Total of Primary school enrolment is 253 and total of Junior High School is also 48 pupils.

The headteacher answered the last question by outlining the challenges of the school to be;

1. i. The need for enough furniture
2. ii. The need for teachers bungalow to be completed
3. iii. The need for additional classrooms blocks
4. iv. The need for school uniforms
5. v. The need for marker board
6. vi. The need for light in the school

Hon. Joshua Makubu assured the headteacher that, the assembly will consider his school anytime furniture is ready. But the assembly will be given it to schools that needs it by itself and no more to GES Directorate. This is because GES Directorate always shares the furniture provided among the schools which does not solve the furniture challenges, hence, one school at a time.

The Hon. Minister assured the headteacher that, his teachers bungalow will be completed anytime assembly gets fund.

With light issues, Hon. Minister tasked the school management to wire the structure, call energy commission to satisfy it and report to him to facilitate the acquisition of metre.

Hon, Minister ended his speech by interacting with the KG pupils with exchange of greetings where he gave some money to a girl child who was able to answer his question (what is your name?) and tasked the school management to educate parents to take good care of their children school uniforms during Parents Association meetings.

The next school visited was Dambai English and Arabic Basic School.

The Hon, regional minister asked some questions which are below,

1. i. Is your admission limited to only Muslims?
2. ii. What is today’s attendance?
3. iii. What are your challenges?

ool pupil who were not wearing proper school uniforms, being three girls and five boys.

He ended his interaction with the KG one (1) and two (2) pupils and donated some money to the pupils who were able to speak English to him.

Conclusively, Hon. Joshua Makubu ended his “My First Day At School” visit in Krachi East Municipal successfully at Monkrate D/A Basic school.

Below are the image of ‘’My First Day At School’’ in Krachi East Municipal of Oti Region.

The Oti Regional Minister, Hon. Joshua G. Makubu on 24th November, 2022 presented ten (10) desktop computers to the DACE Demonstration School, Dambai to facilitate teaching and learning in the area of ICT.

The desktop computers were presented to representatives from the Demonstration school at the office of the Hon. Regional Minister. The presentation was done with the assistance of the Regional Coordinating Director, The Regional Finance Officer, MIS officer and some staff of the RCC.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press,

I seize this opportunity to welcome you all to this press briefing on the demise of a member of the council, Hon. Francis Kofi Okesu and former Municipal Chief Executive of Krachi East Municipal Assembly and the Dean of Municipal and District Chief Executives (Oti Region).

The sad event occurred on Sunday, 4^th September, 2022 in Kumasi, Ashanti Region after he took permission from the Hon. Regional Minister on Friday, 2^nd September, 2022. The body has been deposited at a morgue in the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hopital for an autopsy and investigation surrounding the death.

While the government of Ghana, Regional Security Council (REGSEC), family members of the deceased and sympathizers are waiting for the outcome of the investigations, certain media houses are peddling unfounded reportage on the cause of death. REGSEC wish to register its displeasure as follows;

1. The reportage had been hasty and prejudicial.
2. The reportage has the tendency to aggravate the existing grieve in the family.
3. The causes adduced by these media houses are strange and aimed at character assassination
4. the REGSEC had not known the deceased with those negative attributes and members feels it is not a true reflection of the man, Hon. Francis Kofi Okesu.

For a better way forward, REGSEC wants to state that the trip the deceased undertook was legitimate and dissociates itself from the unprogressive reportage and demand for the following;

1. An apology from the underlisted media house(s) to the deceased, the family, REGSEC and the entire Oti Region i.e;
   • The Daily Graphic (Dailygraphiconline)
   • Joy News (Myjoyonline.com)
   • Daily Guide newspaper
2. A retraction of the relevant reportage.
3. Media house must be circumspect in dealing with matters related to such challenging issues.
4. Failure to adhere to the call(s) shall give us cause not to listen, engage the affected media houses in our programs and activities any more.

REGSEC wants to call for calm from the aggrieved parties or persons who have been affected by the misleading reportage of those media house.

May the soul of the Hon. Francis Kofi Okesu rest in perfect peace. Thank you.

HON. JOSHUA GMAYENAAM MAKUBU (CHAIRMAN/REGSEC)

The District League Table (DLT) is a tool developed for tracking national development and highlighting Districts that are performing well and those which are handicapped in terms of wellbeing of their population. The DLT ranks Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) on selected sector-based indicators in order to highlight performance of the districts.

On Monday 23rd May, 2022, the National Development Planning Commission held a one-day workshop to pre-launch the preparation of the 2021 District League Table Report and also disseminated the 2020 report. The Objective was to dialogue and inform the national level actors, especially MDAs and MMDAs on the selected indicators to assess the disparities and inequalities and use this to review current frameworks for policy dialogue as well as generate concrete programmatic suggestions.

At the workshop, the outcome of the previous report (2020 DLT report) was presented to participants. The presentation presented the regional DLT scores and ranking, the regional performance in the assessed areas as well as the district scores and rankings of the districts in the Oti region.

Cape Coast-Monday January 31, 2022: The Head of the Local Government Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur has entreated Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to be committed and innovative to ensure performance excellence of their respective District Assemblies. He said as political and administrative heads, the they must institute pragmatic measures to achieve success as far as performance is concerned.

Dr. Arthur said this when he delivered a presentation on the ‘’Performance Contracts of the MMDCDs and LGS Performance Management System’’ at the first zonal refresher course on leadership and management. The training was organised by the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development in collaboration with the Institute of Local Government Studies for MMDCEs in the Eastern, Central and Western regions.

He further indicated that to effectively implement national and local policies, MMDCDs must work closely with and staff. Dr. Arthur entreated the MMDCEs to at all times use effective internal monitoring and feedback mechanisms to ensure the prudent use of the resources at their disposal. He urged them to be determined and spirited in their efforts to achieve best of results in the 2021 performance contract.

He reiterated the LGS’ commitment to strengthen local government institutions and structures; review systems; procedures and processes as well as build capacities in support of improved service delivery at the sub-national levels.

Also present were the Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural development (MLGDRD), Honorable Daniel Botwe and his three (3) deputies, Director and Registrar at the Institute of Local Government Studies, Director of Human Resource at the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service as well as some Directors and officers from the MLDGRD.

Sunyani-Saturday February 5, 2022: The Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS) participated in the opening of the second of a series of a 3-day zonal refresher course on leadership and management for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) from the Bono, Ashanti, Western North and Ahafo Regions held in Sunyani.

The programme which attracted seventy (70) MMDCEs seeks to among others create the platform for the MMDCES to share their on-the-job experience; deepen understanding on issues of local governance, development and management as well as sharpen their skills to manage their respective Assemblies with business mindsets.

Delivering the welcome statement, the Bono Regional Minister, Honorable Justina Owusu-Banahene reminded participants of their role in ensuring effective service delivery at the local level and entreated them to be proactive in the delivery of services while ensuring adherence to acceptable standards and best practices emphasizing on the value for money audit of all projects.

She pledged her commitment to ensure that her Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) work closely with the MMDAs within her jurisdiction to accelerate the realization of a balanced development and improved service delivery in accordance with Article 255 of the Constitution and the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936). He was hopeful that the MMDCEs would play their roles effectively to ensure the government achieve its goal of transforming the economy towards a Ghana Beyond Aid.

The Minister for Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development (MLDRD), Honorable Dan Botwe cautioned them to avoid needless confrontations with traditional authorities, MPs and Assembly Members; respect others and show empathy in order to gain affection of the citizenry. He also indicated that they should not be armchair administrators and engage all communities in their respective areas of jurisdiction. He admonished them to interact with the citizenry to better understand their needed and development goals and fashion out appropriate plans and programmes to address them.

Honorable Dan Botwe noted that his Ministry would enhance the District Data Development Platform (DDDP), a computerized data system to be accessed by the MMDAs, RCCs, National Development Planning Commission, Office of the Head of the Local Government Service and the Ministry of LGDRD to help provide real-time data for assessment of district operations and performance. This according to him will help in the delivery of Government programmes and projects for evidence -based decision making and policy direction at the Central government level.

Also present at the event were the Head of the Local Government Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, three Deputy Ministers for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Ashanti, Bono, Western North and Ahafo Regional Ministers, Director and Registrar of the Institute of Local Government Studies as well as Directors from the MLGDRD and the Director of Planning, Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr. George Ackah.

Tamale-Tuesday February 8, 2022: The 3rd in a series of a 3-day zonal refresher course for Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) has commenced in Tamale with a call on MMDCEs to work hard towards the realization of the President, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo’s vision. The Minister for Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, Honorable Daniel Botwe made this call at the official opening of the 3-day course on leadership and management for sixty-six (66) MMDCEs drawn from the Upper West, Upper East, North East, Northern, Savannah and Bono East Regions.

Honorable Daniel Botwe encouraged MMDCEs to engage their peers and experts in order to deepen their knowledge and understanding of local governance and decentralization to improve their performance. He indicated that the Ministry will continue to promote inter-sector and agency collaboration to avoid duplication in the implementation of the Government’s initiatives.

The Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Shani Alhassan Saibu, who delivered the welcome statement, reminded MMDCEs of the importance of the course and urged them to ensure the training reflects ultimately in improved performance and service delivery. He mentioned that many District Assemblies (DAs) in his Region are unable to mobilize up to 50% of projected annual revenue, a situation which makes the Assemblies depend heavily on the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and other funding sources to perform their functions.

He hinted that the Northern Regional Coordinating Council (NRCC) would intensively engage MMDAs within the Region from February 11, 2022, to tackle the issue of low revenue generation and other related matters. He underscored the important role MMDCEs play in the scheme of local governance which he said makes them the easiest point of criticism while their actions and inactions provide a reflection of the performance of the government as well as meeting the felt needs of the citizenry.

The program was graced by some government functionaries including the Head of the Local Government Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, and the Director for Management and Technical Services at the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service, Mrs. Lilian Baeka.