My Blog

Our grandfathers have a popular quote “Nyansa ni baako fuo tirim ” which translates to “Wisdom does not reside in one man’s head”.

It is for this exact reason that it is a requirement of the Local Governance Act (LGA) 2016 (Act 936), Public Financial Management Act (Act 921), National Development Planning Commission Act 1994, (Act 479), and National Development Planning System Regulations 2016 (L.I. 2232), which mandate a bottom-up approach to development planning, budgeting, and fee fixing.

Despite the aforementioned constitutional provisions, only identifiable groups of citizens and stakeholders have been allowed to participate in local governance in several municipal assemblies in Ghana due to corruption and mediocrity, preventing the majority of the population from exercising their civic rights to participate in and be involved in decisions that have a massive impact on their own lives.

When a Municipal Assembly is making a decision for a particular project in a community, it is mainly decided by the MCE, the Presiding Member, the Land Commisions rep, a rep from Manhyia palace, the Municipal director, a rep from the Regional Minister, and a few others. These persons holding the above positions can believe, trust, and think of a particular project for the community in which they are backed by law to do so but the reality is it doesn’t mean the project is good, wise, or relevant for the local people. In fact some projects are very visionless, and irrelevant and will be considered for destruction if better thinkers come in the future.

After making these bad decisions mostly because of their gains, people in authority will go out of power while the communities they have destroyed with their mediocre and visionless dreams suffer for years and generations to come.

This has been the state of the Kwadaso municipal assembly headed by Mr. Agyenim Boateng since 2017. The Municipal assembly and its assembly members have been accused of several heartbreaking issues but they have never bothered to address them through public forums, the media, or community engagements. They have turned deaf ears to the same people whom they are serving and are affected by the decisions they make.

The KdMA and alliance with Nananom have been accused and alleged of rezoning state-owned lands for sale to individuals without replacement from Nananom for the rezoned land per the rezoning laws.

This same administration at the KdMa has also been accused of inappropriately and illegally giving out state-owned properties unto the B.O.T system. They have also been been accused of selling state-owned properties to individuals without proper protocols and channels.

The worst of all is all the mediocre projects going on in the Constituency which is turning Kwadaso into an unplanned town. Everything is “mediocally” constructed, awarded, and executed killing the future of this community and the people in authority are justifying all wrongly executed decisions in the community with the people complaining and wailing bitterly.

Kwadaso lands and properties are going away into pockets of individuals and everything has become a norm. Where public spaces need to be situated are being sold to be used for stores, where toilets need to be situated are being used for schools and the town is suffocating gradually.

Rezoning is now the order of the day at Kwadaso not for the sake of the people but for the sake of the gains to be shared by people in authority.

Development Groups in the Kwadaso Community such as the Kwadaso Municipal Advocacy Group, Friends of Kwadaso, Kwadaso News Page, and Kwadaso TV among others have concerns about how the Municipal assembly is destroying Kwadaso through projects that are misplaced priorities but their voices have been ignored for a long time.

Despite these groups’ greatest efforts to engage the municipal to promote transparent and accountable governance, the Assembly makes no effort to monitor, share, and gather feedback on its programs and projects. Due to this situation, the majority of the citizens have very little or no access to the right information in the day-to-day administration of the Assembly which frowns on the principle of accountability and transparency hence their loss of trust and confidence in the authorities to meet their needs.

What prompted me to write this article is a speech and letter I have chanced upon from one of the above-mentioned development groups in Kwadaso demanding a halt to a project about to be commenced at the Former Kwadaso Onion Market land which they evacuated barely 3 weeks ago.

This development group has piled up a series of issues that need to be investigated at the Kwadaso Municipal Assembly since 2017 but has put a halt to all of them to focus on the Former Kwadaso Onion Market Land demanding a halt to the project about to be started on the said land.

Motivated by the popular quote of President Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo to be “citizens and not spectators”, have decided to place an emergency and courtesy call on Otumfour and the President of Ghana to halt the project given out to contract already at the Former Kwadaso Onion Market Land so that proper analysis and consultations backed by the voice people of Kwadaso to finally determine if the project is indeed the best out of all possible projects that could have fit that land for the people of Kwadaso or it is just another misplaced priority by people in authority.

As we all know people in authority hate to be criticized, we hope that this call to action will be swift. We are also praying that the King of Asanteman; Otumfour Nana Osei Tutu II, and the President of the Republic Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo will welcome the plea of the people.

On the way forward, citizens have suggested to the Kwadaso Municipal Assembly to halt all processes leading to the start of this specific Former Onion Market Land project. Currently, the people of the kwadaso electoral area where this particular project is about to happen have lost confidence in the assembly member and the MCE for their inability to address and involve the people they serve.

The people of kwadaso have been angry inside for a long time but have been patient enough throughout all these years to avoid demonstrations and verbal abuses towards the Kwadaso Municipal Assembly but it is over now. I look forward to this action soon.

We call upon all the people of kwadaso to get involved when the need arises, we should all be citizens and not spectators. The assembly members and the MCE will leave office to their families and Kwadaso will still be there. Whatever they decide will be with us forever whether good, bad, or ugly.

The MCE and his political cartel cannot determine the future of Kwadaso alone, the community doesn’t belong to them. Involving the citizens is a rule of law and must be used.