Good Governance and Civic Responsibility
The Assembly

The current local government system has a three (3) tier structure at the district level, which is made up of the Assembly, the urban Town/Area Councils and Unit Committees. The Upper Denkyira Municipal Assembly, which exercises deliberative, legislative and executive functions, is highest political and administrative body in the Municipality. It is made up of a Municipal Chief Executive, thirty-six (36) elected members from the electoral areas, eighteen (18) members appointed by the President in consultation with chiefs and interest groups, and two Members of Parliament who have no voting right.

The Presiding Member, who is elected from among the Assembly members, convenes and presides over the meetings of the Assembly.The Assembly performs its functions through the Executive Committee and a network of Sub-Committees. The Executive Committee exercises executive and administrative functions of the Assembly while the Sub-Committees collate and deliberate on issues relevant to their functional areas. It has twenty-one (21) members. The Executive Committee has the following Sub-Committee:

1.Development Planning sub-Committee
2.Social Services Sub-Committee on Education
3.Social Services Sub-Committee
4.Works Sub-Committee
5.Justice and Security Sub-committe
6.Finance and Administration Sub-Committee
7.Environmental Management sub-Committee
8.Agric Sub-Committee

There is also the Public Relations and Complaints Committee chaired by the Presiding Member. The Committee is mandated to receive complaints against the conduct of members and staff of the Assembly from the public and make recommendations to the Assembly. The Assembly is the highest governing body in the Assembly and exercises its executive and administrative functions through the Executive Committee, which is chaired by the Municipal Chief Executive.

For administrative effectiveness, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) is supported by a secretariat or the Central Administration referred to as the office of the Assembly, which is headed by a Municipal Co-ordinating Director (MCD) who reports to the Municipal Chief Executive and is in charge of the day-today administration of the Assembly. The Municipal Co-ordinating Director is also in charge of all Heads of Decentralized Departments in the Assembly.

Constituents of the Departments

According to the Local Government Act 1993, Act 462, the District Assembly is supposed to establish 11 Departments as specified in the first schedule of this Act, These Departments and their constituents are shown in Table 1.39. At the moment most of these department and their constituents are in place.The Central Administration is supposed to be constituted with specialized departments namely - Birth and Deaths, information Services and Statistical Service. However, working relationship is yet to be integrated as these departments still operate as centralized departments. All departments are being housed outside the premises of the Assembly.

Integration of the Departments

The integration of Departments remained problematic, as most of them own their allegiance to their Regional and National headquarters rather than to the Assembly. The integration has not gone beyond Heads of Departments attendance at the Assembly, sub-committee meetings to which some of them are secretaries. Copies of their reports are made available to the Central Administration.

Other Public agencies in the District include

The National Commission for Civic Education, National Service Secretariat, The Electoral Commission, Commission on Human Right and Administration Justice, The Ghana Police Service, The Judicial Service, Produce Buying Company of COCOBOD, Administration of Stool Lands, Ghana Post, Ghana Telecom, The Ghana Water Company, Financial Institutions.

Relationship between District Assembly and the Departments

There is a cordial relationship between the Assembly and the decentralized departments existing in the Municipality. Currently, the Assembly accommodates the entire Department, though outside its premises. Heads of Department are always invited to the Assembly and Sub-Committee meetings. Their technical advice is always sought in all matters affecting the development of the district. The Assembly supports them financially when the need arises. These departments submit copies of monthly and quarterly reports on their operations to the Assembly

The Sub-District Structures

The Assembly has one (1) Urban Council and seven (7) Area Councils. The urban is Dunkwa. The Area Councils are Oponso, Kyekyewere, Subin-Hill, Buabin, Ayanfuri, Asikuma and Diaso. There are 119 Unit Committees. These Sub-Structures of the Assembly are supposed to perform functions assigned to them by the instrument setting up the structures or delegated to them by the Assembly. These functions include:-

To take over, as appropriate, all the functions formerly performed by the Town and Village committees concerned.
To enumerate and keep records of all reteable persons and properties in the Urban Area, Zone or Town.
To assist any person authorized by the Assembly to collect revenue due to the Assembly.
To recommend to the Assembly the naming of all streets in its area of authority and ensures that all buildings along the streets are numbered.To plant trees along streets and to erect tree-guards to protect them. They also make sure the streets are not unduly obstructed.To prevent and control fire outbreaks including bush fires.Organize with any other relevant organization annual congresses of the people of the Area for the purpose of discussing the development of the Area including the raising of voluntary or other contributions to fund the development of the area. Perform such other functions as may be delegated by the Assembly.

Additional function to be performed by the Sub-Structures are:

•To be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the council
•To arrange revenue collection contracts with the Assembly and collect revenue due for the Assembly.
•To prepare annual budgets of revenue and recurrent and development budget of the council for approval by the Assembly.
•To open and maintain Bank Accounts.
•To provide, operate and maintain community services in the council area.
•To take such step as may be necessary to prevent disasters including floods and bush fires in the Area.
• To prepare short, medium and long-term development plans for the council for approval of the Assembly.
•To make proposals to the Assembly for the levying and collection of special rates for projects and programmes within the Urban Area or Town.
•Subject to the approval and direction of the Assembly to implement scheme for economic development and social justice may be entrusted to them.

The Sub-District Structures are currently not performing their functions as stipulated in the L.I. 1589; because of staffing and accommodation problems. Officials expected to be employed to these councils (Clerks of Council, Treasurer and Typist) have not yet been appointed. This is due to the inability of the Assembly to generate enough funds to pay their salaries and the reluctance of the Central Government to pay their salaries.Apart from Oponso and Subin, all the remaining Town/Area Council do not have permanent office accommodation. Budgetary allocation would be made in the Assembly’s Supplementary Estimates to either construct permanent accommodation or rent places to facilitate their functioning. Plans are also far advanced to organize training programmes for the councilors and the Unit Committee to equip them with the requisite skills to perform their functions as required by law.