Beef Up Security At Atebubu, Pru And Sene areas — Nanja

The Atebubu-Amantin District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Sanja Nanja, has appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, establish a military post for the three sister districts, to beef up security in the area.

He named the areas as Atebubu-Amantin, Pru and Sene and stressed the need for security, particularly on the highway from Atebubu to Yeji and the Atebubu-Kwame Danso road, to help curb the increasing spate of armed attacks on traders and people in recent times.

The menace, he said, had created fear and panic among traders and the people since June 2010.

Mr Nanja, who made the appeal at the second ordinary meeting of the assembly at Atebubu, also appealed to assembly members and the people to co-operate with the police to deal with the situation.

He commended the police for the measures put in place so far to deal with the highway robberies and pledged the support of the assembly towards the restoration of calm and tranquillity in the district.

The meeting coincided with the swearing in of Mr Bawa Seidu, 36, a teacher of the Atebubu Senior High School (SHS), as the new Presiding Member (PM) of the assembly by the Atebubu District Magistrate, Mr Joseph Amidu Nasigre.

Addressing the Assembly members, Mr Nanja reminded them that they were not at the assembly to seek their personal interest against that of the public good and so they should endeavour to serve their people.

Touching on the financial report of the assembly, he said against a target of GH¢345,280 as internally generated funds (IGFs) for 2011, GH¢81,327.30, representing 23.5 per cent, had been collected as of the end of the first quarter of 2011.

He said as a measure to reverse the low revenue mobilisation trend, the assembly had decided to purchase a pick-up to be used for revenue mobilisation and the monitoring of projects, as well as programmes.

Mr Nanja urged the assembly members to assist in the revenue collection mechanism to improve the situation, saying that future District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) allocation was determined by the IGF of today.

He said the assembly was to receive GH¢1,733,589.33 as its share of the 2011 DACF, adding that based on that figure a supplementary budget had been prepared and amounts allocated to the various sectors, namely, economic, social services, good governance, environment and contingency.

Mr Seidu, in his address, thanked the assembly members for electing him and pledged to work assiduously to justify the confidence they had reposed in him.

He urged the assembly members to bury their differences and approach all deliberations of the assembly devoid of party affiliation so that together they could bring development to the people.