Take advantage of the Capitation grant -Parents told
Kenyasi (B/A) Sept. 29, GNA - Mr. Opoku Peprah, Asutifi District Chief Executive on Wednesday asked Assembly Members to encourage parents in the district to take advantage of the Capitation grant to enrol their children in schools.
"There is no justification for parents to deny their children the opportunity to attend school. It is an act of criminal negligence if you fail to enrol your child in school," he added.
Mr. Peprah made the appeal when addressing the third ordinary meeting of the third session of the Assembly at Kenyasi. He pledged to liaise with the District Education Directorate to monitor enrolment in schools and asked the assembly members to show commitment to the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme.
The DCE said "this is a challenge we have to make, not only to ensure the success of the FCUBE but to honour our obligation to our children and improve on the human resource base of the district." Mr. Peprah announced that the Integrated Social Development Organisation (ISODEC), an international development charity, under the auspices of the Netherlands Government, had provided scholarships to some brilliant but needy girls in first and second cycle schools in the district.
Mr Peprah said an Asutifi District Scholarship Scheme, to promote education in the district had been instituted to offer financial assistance to brilliant but needy pupils and students. On the district's finances, the DCE disclosed that a task force would soon be instituted to intensify revenue mobilization and enforce bye-laws within the district.
He attributed the poor performance of the Assembly's revenue mobilization and generation efforts to manpower and logistical problems, adding; "the unwillingness of people and business entities to honour their property rates and other obligations had worsened the problem." Mr. Peprah directed the committees involved in the construction of the Hwidiem and Ntotroso markets to speed up and complete them before the end of the year to enhance revenue mobilization.
On the HIV/AIDS menace, the DCE said the assembly was preparing a five-year strategic plan from 2006-2010 to the Ghana Aids Commission for assistance to reduce its incidence in the District.
He announced that about 13 development projects estimated at about one billion cedis had been executed within the district under the Social Investment Fund (SIF).
Mr. Peprah announced that disbursement under the District Assembly's Common Fund and the Poverty Alleviation Fund had been suspended because of the slow re-payment of monies released to beneficiaries and new modalities were being worked out to retrieve the monies before disbursement would continue.
The DCE appealed to the Assembly to initiate steps to upgrade the Kenyasi Health Centre into a hospital to be well equipped to participate effectively in the National Health Insurance Scheme.
Mr. Peprah said the Assembly would not shirk its responsibility in the completion of rural electrification programmes and provision of potable water at Kenyasi Number one and two, Hwidiem, Acherensua and Ntotroso.