The first Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) meeting was held on 2nd July 2024 at Banquet Hall of Central Regional Co-ordinating Council, residency, Cape Coast. The meeting commenced at 9:30 am with a prayer by Rev. Ransford K. Nyarko, District Chief Executive for Ajumako Enyan Essiam District. The MC further invited members for a quick self-introduction after which the Regional Minister presented her address.
The Central Regional Minister, Hon. Mrs Justina Marigold Assan called on all MMDCEs to share the thematic areas and their corresponding Key Performance Areas and Key Performance Indicators with their respective Heads of Departments (HODs) to assist them in meeting the Performance Contract agreement.
Hon. Mrs. Assan, assured members of the commitment of the Government of Ghana to completing the dualization of the Winneba Kasoa Highway and encouraged members and all to bear with the inconveniences this may have been causing. She added that, after the completion of the highway’s dualization heavy traffic at Gomoa Dudumburam and its ajoining areas will be thing of the past.
On the matters of food security and agriculture, the Hon Regional Minister announced the completion of the rice processing plant under the KOICA project and expected commissioning to be on 31 July 2024. She took the opportunity to encourage members to patronize and purchase the Central Agra rice from the plant and tasked the media to help in the publicity of the same.
She tasked the MMDCEs and stakeholders especially ZoomLion Ghana involved in the sanitation sector to take actions to avert the poor nature on matters of sanitation in the region currently. She added that ZoomLion Ghana sholud work hard to resolve the non-payment of salaries of some staff of ZoomLion Ghana.
The Regional Minister called on the media to be involved in the matters of the Region and refrain from activities that impede the progress of the Region. She thanked members for attending the meeting and their continued efforts to uplift the region to greater heights.
In her concluding remarks, she touched on matters of the 2024 General Elections and called on all stakeholders to carry out their mandates professionally to ensure that we have a peaceful election as a Region and by extension the country.
The Regional Director of the Ghana Highways Authority Mad. Mercy Akyaa Payne as part of her presentation to the Council touched on the activities that has been carried out by her office since the last Council meeting. She touched primarily on the road and bridge projects within the region and their implementation stages including challenges and the way forward of those projects. Few of the updates includes;
- Nyakrom Agona Bridge is expected to be completed by the close of August 2024
- the Regional Director encouraged Utility agencies to adhere to the road utilization manual to avert the issues of utility line relocation.
- Responding to the reaction by a member on the illegal mounting of speed ramps on the highways and inner roads, the Director indicated they need the assistance of the District Assemblies in enforcing strict compliance and preventing residents and road users from this act.
- The Presiding member of Gomoa East D/A also indicated the destruction of the major pipeline suppling water to the a major town in his District. The Director indicated the office is aware and actions are being taken as soon as practicable.
- The Director also advised MMDAs to relocate markets sited along the highway and put in the right mechanisms to prevent illegal activities on the roads.
The Regional Director of the Electoral Commission Mr Manu Sakyi presented on activities the Commission is undertaking as part of preparation towards the 2024 General Elections in Ghana. Highlights from the presentation include;
- as of the day of the meeting, the total number of registered voters in Central region were 80,205 which was the third highest in the country.
- He informed the members that 201 people applied for proxy and added that, compilation of Special Voter list is limited to Security and Media and indicated this process should have ended Monday July 1st, 2024 but Saturday and Sunday (6th and 7th July 2024) has been added for the mop-up of this exercise. The Director further indicated that eligible person should apply through the district offices of the commission to be part of this group which is the only means of getting on the special voters list.
- He further added that voter transfers were at a total of 39,032. Mr Sakyi also informed members of the ongoing Recruitment of Temporary Staff of the 2024 General Elections across the Region. He encouraged members who want their wards to be part to visit their District offices for this purpose.
- The Director concluded his presentation by indicating the dates for activities including exhibition of the voter register, mop-up registration and opening of nominations of parliamentary and presidential forms these include; shift of date of the voter exhibition to 20th -27th August from the initial 29th July 2024, receiving nominations of both Parliamentary and Presidential forms in September 2024, special voting to be done on 2nd December 2024 while the General Elections are held on 7th December 2024.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly Hon. Ebenezer Forson Appiah updated the members on the status of sanitation and streetlighting in the Municipality.
The MCE indicated that the Assembly has been placing second in all Sanitation league tables in the region. He added the Assembly undertakes monthly clean-up exercises on every first Saturday of the month with Traditional leaders supporting actively. He also added that the Assembly has secured a final disposal or dumping site. The challenge, however, has to do with the nature of the road leading to the disposal site which causes frequent breakdown of the trucks. The MCE appealed to the Hon Regional Minister and Zoomlion to aid in this challenge.
Hon. Appiah acknowledged the effort of the Regional Minister in the supply of some streetlights to augment efforts in curbing the deficit in the municipality. He concluded that the Municipality keeps expanding and so the need to procure more which the Assembly is taking conscious efforts to do same. However he added the Assembly is anticipating the supply of extra streetlights.
The Regional Environmental Health Officer(REHO), Mr Goku in his remarks outlined the Assemblies performing and others which are still trailing with matters of sanitation.
In his presentation, Mr Goku made mention of some District Assemblies which are performing well. These are, Awutu Senya East Municipal Assembly, Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly, Gomoa East District Assembly and Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly. He further called on all members to applaud Ajumako Enyan Essiam District Assembly for their effort in rural sanitation for declaring four (4) communities Open Defecation Free (ODF).
The Regional Envirinmental Health Officer appealed on ZoomLion to fast truck its distribution of skip containers and trucks to help in waste collection in the region.
Mr K. Opoku Agyemang, the Regional Coordinator, Free Senior High School Secretariat updated the house on matters bothering the Basic Examination and selection of Senior Schools by BECE candidates.
He mentioned that approximately 69,000 candidates will sit for the BECE in the region for 2024. He further informed the house that the challenge with the smooth implementation of the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) has to do with the human influence factor.
He further called on the media to inform parents of the ongoing sensitization regarding the school selection and placement processes.
In response to the assertion by many that pupil of the Region often do not get to attend the Second Cycle Schools, he explained that a quota of 30%-10%has been reserved to pupil within the catchment of the school to attend. Also, school placement is based primarily on performance so he encouraged all to help their wards if they so wish to attend the Category A and B schools in the region.
Ing. George Amoah, the Regional Engineer of ECG in his brief indicated that the Electricity Company of Ghana is undertaking a project termed, Loss Reduction Project. Under this project, all defective meters in most parts of the region including Cape Coast, Kasoa, Swedru and Winneba were being replaced with new smart meters. He further listed some statistics regarding the project including;
- About 65,000 smart meters installed as of the meeting day
- 89 transformers with varied capacities have been installed in 2024
- A call on the Hon Regional Minister and Hon MMDCEs to support the Company in combating fake meters as it is adversely affecting the revenue base of the company.
Ing. Amoah concluded his update by encouraging all to avail themselves to have new meters installed and visit the district and regional offices of ECG if they have any challenge for swift assistance.
The Regional Minister congratulated the house for shared efforts and the collective gains over the period, she further acknowledged the fruitful deliberation that has ensued over the course of the meeting. She called on the Urban Roads Director to take a critical look at inner roads in Agona East, Agona West and Gomoa Central as these have been deplorable for some time now. She took the opportunity to thank all stakeholders including Ghana National Gas Company Limited, AGRA Rice and all who have supported the Central Regional Co-ordinating Council in carrying out its mandates. She concluded by asking all to make conscious efforts in their own small way to make the region great.