Hajia Alima Mahama
The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, has announced that births registration coverage in Ghana increased from 63 per cent in 2016 to 80.4 per cent in 2019.
On the other hand, she said deaths registration coverage stood at 17 per cent as of 2019.
The minister made this known at the Information Ministry in Accra during a meet-the-press series yesterday.
She stated that District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) allocation for persons with disability (PWD) had increased from two per cent to three per cent and disbursed at the district level.
She was delivering an update on what the ministry was doing to increase funding and improve financial management at the metropolitan and municipal district assemblies (MMDAs).
She outlined measures being taken by government to strengthen the financing base of MMDAs to raise revenue locally for the purposes of undertaking independent development projects.
She also shared insights on how government intended to increase participation of the citizenry in democratic governance.
Hajia Mahama said that the Rural Development Policy, which seeks to guide and coordinate service delivery and investment in the rural areas, had been formulated and approved by Cabinet and currently at its implementation stage.
She said the policy would significantly help modernize agriculture for rural growth and development, provide quality socio-economic infrastructure and services in a decent and secure environment, as well as maximize the potential of rural areas towards rural enterprises development and industrialization.
“A total of 340 sub-projects are being delivered under a Labour Intensive Public Works (LIPW) programme,” she said, adding “these include 73 small earth dams and dug-outs (SEDD), 60 feeder roads of an average of 3.5 km at an aggregate length of 235.6 km, 209 climate change interventions (plantations) totalling 2,027 hectares.”
Hajia Alima Mahama said in line with this policy, the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPSNP) had been designed and was being implemented with US$60 million funding from the World Bank, with a total seedling production of 7.9 million.
“The implementation of these sub-projects has created 29,959 (female 18,508 constituting 62%, male 11,451 constituting 38%) jobs and a total of approximately GH¢19 million as wages has been transferred to extremely poor households across the country during the first season of work in 2020,” she said.
Illegal Mining
The minister also said the over 500 youths, who were previously engaged in illegal mining, had received training in technical and vocational skills and had been supported with startup tools and equipment through the Alternative Livelihood Programme.
She said the beneficiaries were drawn from 35 severely-affected ‘galamsey’ districts in the country with full sponsorship from the government.
She also said an additional 607 youths are currently undergoing similar training, of which 240 are in the community development institutions, while 367 are attached to master craftsmen and are undergoing apprenticeship.
Hajia Mahama said the ministry, in collaboration with the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, had commenced the implementation of the Tree Planting and Environmental Campaign Project, adding that some had already been planted along the River Pra in the Wassa East and Shama districts in the Western Region.
By Melvin Tarlue