Ashaiman demands assembly officials give out public information

By D.I. Laary, GNA
Accra, May 2, GNA - Residents of Ashaiman have called on the Assembly officials to provide unfettered access to public information to enable the citizens to monitor the Assembly's activities and projects.

The call comes on the back of the access to information coalitions' demand to Parliament to speed up the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) bill into law to guarantee people's right to request public information without any impediments.

Participants at a Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (SPEFA) forum told the Ghana News Agency that authorities ought to give citizens free access to information on development projects and programmes to facilitate public monitoring.

Mr Charles Zuttah, a member of the Ghana Federation of Urban Poor said information is power and must be accessible to all.

He said there are people who cannot read but when the information is given to them in a pictorial form it would make sense to them.

'We must be part of dreaming the projects so that we can supervise the implementation process, the authorities have the professional eyes, if we are engaged and understand why this project is here and not there, it will reduce tension and conflicts,' he added.

Mr Zuttah noted that Assembly officials' failure to provide timely and relevant information about their activities and programmes, including placement of community projects, had largely turned many marketplaces, toilet facilities and a host of public buildings to white elephants.

But the Head of Social Accountability Unit at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mrs Fati Lily Soale said the unit had developed a simplified public financial management template that deconstructed technical language used by the Assemblies.

She said the move formed part of the unit efforts to ensure that all citizens, literates and illiterates, have access to public information to enable them to mobilise themselves to monitor projects being undertaken by their respective Assemblies.

However, she said citizens' lack of interest in the activities of the Assemblies is a source of concern that ought to be addressed since it affected public good and waned national responsibility.

'There is apathy among the people, there is no sense of responsibility and this is why we have poor maintenance culture, but then illiteracy rate is very high, we have to build their capacity, which the SPEFA forum is doing now, though this is very expensive we have to stimulate their interest,' she said.

Mr Kojo Anane, Programme Officer of People's Dialogue, noted that poverty could hardly be reduced in the country, unless duty-bearers make deliberate efforts to strengthen social accountability at all levels of the development ladder.

He noted that the challenge facing citizens' active participation in local governance and development is apathy, conflict of interest and individuals positioning their personal interest above national interest.

The SPEFA forum is a component of the local government capacity support project of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ministry of Finance as well as Local Government Service Secretariat.

It is being executed by People's Dialogue, a community-based non-governmental organisation that seeks to disabuse citizens' negative perceptions of urban management, and improve their engagement with city authorities to bolster local development.

GNA