They observed that many of the District Assemblies were not up to the task because the sub-structures such as the unit committees, area and town councils were inadequately resourced to work efficiently.

The participants expressed the sentiments during a two-day district development forum by the Wassa East district Assembly in collaboration with West Africa Governance and Economic  Sustainability (WAGES) in Extractive  Areas, at Daboase in the Western Region.

The forum on the theme “Setting up a positive environment for development”, enabled the participants comprised of Assembly members, Unit committees, Area and Town councils as well as heads of Departments to discuss possible ways to enhance the growth and development of the Wassa East district.

It was also to come up with strategic and attainable goals that would transform the district into a model district.The participants who discussed some of the challenges that faced the district Assembly in its planning, noted that the Assembly was not able to execute its numerous development projects due to lack of funds, since the district assembly common fund according to them, was “no longer common”.

They charged the Assembly to adequately resource all the sub-structures of the Assembly and mandated them to mobilise the necessary revenue for the development of the district.   The participants also expressed concern about the politicisation of almost all programmes and projects in the district, which they noted was a bane to the decentralisation concept.

They demanded that all communities should be involved in revenue mobilisation and that the Assembly should ensure that the revenue generated would be used judiciously to win the confidence and trust of the tax payer.

Mrs Estherine Mensah District Budget Planning Officer, who took the participants through the performance of the district from 2014-2016, said a total of 159 projects were expected to be executed within the period. She said  out of the figure, 70.8 per cent of the  targeted  projects  which include; the construction of police station,  district court, classroom blocks,  mechanised boreholes,  extension of electricity, roads , were completed and were in use, while 10 per cent were on-going with 18 percent  not being implemented.

Mrs Mensah said some of the projects were not executed due to financial constraints and stressed the need for the members to intensify their revenue mobilisation strategies to help mobilise enough funds to execute all the development projects in the district.

Mr Wilson Arthur, District Chief executive in his welcoming address, underscored the importance of purposeful planning, stressing that it was the only way that could speed up the development of the area.

 The DCE expressed concern about the fact that the district capital was about 35 years old but did not have anything in terms of infrastructure and other development projects to show.  He called for all hands to be on deck to ensure the fast development of the district since government alone could not do it.

 Mr Arthur said his vision was to make the district a model one and would do everything in his capacity to bring the dream into a reality.