Good Governance And Civic Reesponsibility

The Municipal Assembly is the highest political authority in the Minicipality.  The  Municipal Chief Executive chairs the Executive Committee.  The various sub-committees, which report to the  Municipal Chief Executive, are responsible for performing the executive functions. Below the  Municipal Assembly are the  Municipal Sub-structures comprising one Town Council, six Area Councils and ninety-two unit committees. Although these substructures are supposed to play very important roles such as resource identification and mobilisation, registration of births and deaths, mobilise communities to under local development activities, they are currently not effective. They do not have the capacity to perform their established functions.

Functions of the Municipal Assembly

The Municipal Assembly, as the highest administrative and political authority of the Municipality, is expected to perform the following roles as provided in the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462).

1. Be responsible for the overall development of the  Municipalirty.  The Assembly shall insure the preparation and submission of development action plan through the Regional Co-ordinating Council to the NDPC and budgets to the Ministry of Finance for approval.
2. Ensure the preparation and submission of development plans.
3. Formulate and executive plans, programmes and strategies for the effective mobilization of the resources for the overall development of the  Municipality.
4. Promote and support productive activity and social development in the Municipality and remove any obstacles to initiatives and development.
5. Initiate programmes for the development of basic infrastructure and provide works and services in the  Municipality
6. Be responsible for the development, improvement and management of human settlements and the environment in the Municipality.
7. In co-operation with the appropriate national and local security agencies, be responsible for the maintenance of security and public safety in the  Municipality.
8. Ensure easy access to courts in the  Municipality for the promotion of justice.
9. Initiate, sponsor or carry out such studies as may be necessary for the discharge of any of the functions confirmed by this law or any other enactment; and
10. Perform such other functions as may be provided under any other enactment.

Relationship of the Municipality  with Neighbouring Districts

With regard to relationship with the neighboring districts, there is a good relationship with New Juaben Municipal Assembly and Fanteakwa District Assembly.  The relationship with Manya Krobo and Akuapem North District Assemblies is rather conflictual.  The causes of the conflict were reported to be boundary disputes, land disputes and conflicts over common resources such as limestone quarry that is claimed by both Yilo Krobo and Manya Krobo Districts.

There are only a few inter-district programmes with the neighbouring districts.  Some of them are the joint security consultation between the Yilo Krobo District and Akuapem North District Assembly, sharing of common resources (Hospital facility) with Manya Krobo District. There is the need to reduce these conflicts so as to pull resources together to address problems that require joint efforts.

Capacity of the public sector at the municipal level

A total of Twenty-two (22) institutions have been identified in Yilo Krobo Municipal Assemble.  Names, functions, areas of operation, linkages with other organizations and future plans of each institution are given in the Table 6.38.  The different institutions are facing a number of difficulties, which are hindering them from achieving their development objectives.  Although there are problems which are specific to the different institutions, the most common problems facing almost all the institutions are inadequate funds, logistical support, particularly transportation, office accommodation, and inadequate staff to execute the planned activities. Refer to table 6.38 in pdf file below.

Inadequate number of professional staff is one of the problems of the institutions as shown in Table 6.39 While there is the need for the Municipal Assembly to institute measures to improve the capacities of the existing staff, they should also advocate for the posting of more professional staff to the District.  Refer to table 6.39 in pdf file below.

Institutional Support

From the analysis, it is quite clear that the institutions in the Municipality need to be supported if they are to perform their duties effectively towards poverty reduction in the district. Since the institutional capacity in the Municipality is paramount in the plan implementation process, and in poverty reduction, the need to make appropriate interventions to address the problems cannot be over-emphasized.  Table 6.40, which is the result from skills limitations identified by the survey, shows the various institutional training needs.  Refer to table 6.40 in pdf file below.

Apart from the above skills requirements, the provision of motorbikes, telephone, computers, other logistics as well as cash and non-cash incentives and residential accommodation are prerequisite for enhancing institutional performance.  

Private and Public Sector Participation

Private sector

Private sector plays a pivotal role in the development of the district. Areas where private sector participation is actively seen include;

• Farming  ( food crop, citrus, mangoes, poultry, animal rearing etc)•    Hotel and restaurants
• Transport industry
• Education  
• Beads making
• Carpentry, repairs etc
• Block moulding
• Brick and tile manufacturing
• Stone quarry
• Trading 
• Dressmaking
•  Hairdressing

These activities need to be supported and encouraged for the growth of the Municipality economy and towards poverty reduction in the Municipality.