APRM holds validation on good governance in Bolgatanga
The Bolgatanga Municipal Oversight Committee of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) on Tuesday held a validation workshop to disseminate a draft findings on good governance in the Municipality.
The Rev. Bishop Dr Paul Bemile, a member of the National African Peer Review Mechanism-Governing Council stressed that the exercise which is being carried out nationwide at the District level, was aimed at getting active participation of the citizenry in diagnosing the governance challenges as well as prescribing remedies to assist government in its implementation policies and programmes.
“The objectives of the assessment is to offer stakeholders in the Districts the opportunity to review and assess the quality of governance at the district level as well devise strategies to further consolidate the strengths and weaknesses in governance and service delivery”, he said.
He commended the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) for contributing immensely to the success of the APRM in Ghana and expressed appreciation to other development partners including the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and the Swiss Embassy for their financial and technical support for the activities of the APRM.
The research which covered various traditional areas including Tanzui, Gambigo-Tulgo, Yariga-Bisi, Bulugu, Zobbisi, Zaare, Sumbrungu and its environs revealed that there had been 60.3 per cent improvement in the availability of schools in the communities in the Municipality on education.
The research which was conducted in October 2011, also showed that majority of the people had difficulty in accessing justice. Whilst 31 per cent of them said judicial corruption prevented them from accessing justice, 24.4 per cent blamed their inability to access justice on distance or proximity. Also, 69.7 per cent of them stated that fees charged by courts and lawyers prevented them from accessing justice.
On issues of child rights, 76.3 per cent of the respondents reported that child labour was a problem in their community, whilst 3.5 per cent of the respondents indicated that child labour immensely affected the health and education of their children.
The research findings showed that close to 87.1 per cent of the respondents were engaged in economic activities that gave them regular income with 41.8 per cent of them indicating that it was difficult getting wage employment in their communities.
The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is an initiative by the African Union aimed at promoting good governance on the African continent.
Source: GNA