The recently launched league table is to encourage communities to discard the practice of open defecation.

The Yendi Municipality increased its ODF coverage from 170 communities in 2020 to 186 in 2021, making it the municipality to top among the 15 metropolitan, municipal and district Assemblies (MMDAS) in the region.

The Chief Executive of the Yendi Municipal Assembly, Alhaji Hammed Abubakar Yussuf, announced this in his sessional address during the first Ordinary Meeting of the assembly at Yendi.

Alhaji Yussuf said the feat was achieved to a large measure due to the contributions of the Assembly Members, especially those in the rural communities, stressing that their attainment of ODF status was a key factor.

He indicated that intensive sensitisation on hygiene and sanitation practices would be sustained through various channels to enable the people to continue to maintain their ODF statues.

He said the assembly had received $20,000 to establish a District Sanitation Fund, which would be operated as a revolving fund to grant loans to individuals and households for the construction of household toilets.

Financial receipts

Alhaji Yussuf announced that the assembly had received GH?250,475 as the fourth quarter allocation of the 2021 District Assemblies Common Fund.

He said with respect to internally generated funds, the assembly could only collect GH?570.304, representing just 67 per cent of the targeted GH?851,000, stressing that the performance had not been encouraging over the last two years.

He indicated that this year, the assembly was estimated to rake in GH?581,510, but at the end of May 2022, they had realised only GH?291,606, representing 33.93 per cent of the target.

In a welcome address, the Presiding Member of the assembly, Hussein Abdul-Karim, appealed to the Chief Executive and the Coordinator Director, Mohammed Akalifa, to fast-track the registration of motorbikes allocated to the assembly members to enable them perform their duties effectively.

Mr Abdul-Karim indicated that because the motorbikes were not registered, it led to misunderstanding between them and law enforcement agencies, adding that in the event of theft of any of the bikes, tracking it would be difficult.

He also appealed to the assembly to organise at least one refresher course for the Assembly Members for them to be conversant with the local government statutes such as the Local Government Act of 2016 and the Standing Orders of the assembly.

He said this would not only enrich debates during assembly meetings but would lead to fruitful decisions.

He expressed concern about how heads of departments failed to attend assembly meetings in person to offer their expert advice on issues concerning their sectors.

The Executive Secretary of the Northern Regional Peace Council, Father Thaddeus Kuusah, said they were in partnership with Creative Associate to build the capacity of executive committee members of assemblies in Yendi, Karaga, Tatale, Zabzugu and Saboba on the activities of extremists.

He said without peace there would be no development, and indicated that the discussion on extremists was not a new thing and that the public should be vigilant and report any suspicious characters within their areas.