Skip to main content

Citizens of Trobu-Amasaman engage with Parliament

Penplusbytes' citizens' forum roadshow geared towards connecting grassroots to parliament landed in Fise, a suburb of Trobu-Amasaman Constituency in the Greater Accra Region at the weekend.
Some citizens in the constituency had the opportunity to engage and interact with their Member of Parliament for Trobu-Amasaman, Moses Anim who is also a member of the Committee on Government Assurances of Parliament.
The citizens' forum dubbed "Dialogue with Parliament" forms a key component of the "Connecting Citizens to Parliament" project being implemented by Penplusbytes with support from Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
The project provides both online (www.assurances.gov.gh, SMS, Whatsapp, mobile App)  and face-to-face platforms for citizens to engage with Parliament and enable the Committee on Government Assurance enhance its oversight role, in ensuring that assurances and promises made by Government are achieved leading to an improvement in public service delivery.
This forum attracted chiefs, opinion Leaders, District Assembly and Unit committee members, union leaders, representatives from various political parties and citizens to discuss government promises on energy, roads and infrastructure among others.
Mr Anim took citizens through the work of parliament, duties of an MP and made emphasis on the role and work of the Committee on Government Assurance which he stated was a standing Committee of Parliament, created by the standing Orders to exercise oversight responsibility over the Executive.
According to him, "Order 174 (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament indicates that, it shall be the duty of the Committee on Government Assurances to pursue all assurances, promises and undertaking given by Ministers from time to time. It shall also be the function of the Committee to report to the House on the extent to which such assurances have been fulfilled. Therefore, the Committee on Government Assurances seeks accountability for the Ghanaian people through their elected representatives."
The MP assured the Citizens of the Committee's resolve, to play their role effectively, devoid of political inclinations to ensure government delivers on its promises for the benefit of all tax-payers and the development of the country.
On his part, the President of Penplusbytes, Kwami Ahiabenu II, stated that, the forum was aimed at creating a structured engagement mechanism between citizens and parliament to enhance their ability to hold duty bearers accountable through increased interaction between them and Parliament.
"This forum is the fourth of its kind undertaken by Penplusbytes this year, and it provides opportunities for a diversity of voices to be heard on issues that matter to people, and fosters a sense of mutuality, belonging and a sense of empowerment, all of which strengthens our burgeoning democracy."
Citizens who participated in the forum called for more interactions such as this to enable them meet their MPs face-to-face, since, it will enable them express their opinions on legislations and government policies which affect them, share in decision-making, thereby assuming more ownership of solutions and more responsibility for their implementation.
The CGA together with Penplusbytes will hold the next citizen forum at the University of Cape Coast after undertaking verification of some projects promised by the government which includes the Cape Coast Stadium and the construction of a new market at Kotokroba.







________________
Kwami Ahiabenu,II
Tel : +233 (0) 302 922620/1, +233 (0) 302 798995
Email:  kwami@penplusbytes.org Location:  New Media Hub No.1 Ostwe Close, Ako Adjei, Osu, Accra-Ghana
follow us on twitter @penplusbytes




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike's The Potter's Wheel

Currently reading Chukwuemeka Ike's The Potter's Wheel very interesting paper pack written by a prolific Nigeria writer the story set during the second World War and the only means of modern entertainment was the The Mobile Cinema Van. the book is very rich is proverbs and a lot of wise words The main character is Obuechina Maduabuchi ( mouthful) who happened to be the only boy born to his parents Mama Obu( short form of Obuechina) and Papa Lazarus Maduabuchi among six older sisters. Due to the "value" placed on the male child, he become a totaly spoilt brat, though academically brilliam Obu was growing into a hopelessly spoilt child to reverse this trend, Papa Lazarus decided to send him away as a servant to a schoolmasster with a dragon of a wife Of course, Obu goes and comes back very different published by University Press PLC Ibadan Nigeria 1993 email address is unipress AT skannet.com.gh though first published by Harvill Press 1973 ISBN 9780302832 WORDS FROM TH...
4 comments
Read more

African Media To Promote Geospatial Science

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has established a forum aimed at enhancing the capacity of the media in the promotion, advocacy and awareness-creation of Geospatial Information Science (GIS) on the African continent. Geospatial Information Science refers to the technology used for the measurement, analysis and visualisation of features or spatial phenomenon occurrences. For instance, in the mining and oil sector, resources on the earth's surface require sophisticated technology to discover, extract and manage and since mining and   drilling of oil require accurate knowledge of the earth's surface and subsurface.   Geospatial technology is best suited for the exploration and extraction of mineral deposits. Again, projects such as roads and waterways require geospatial technologies for planning, construction and implementation. According to the UNECA, GIS and related disciplines are now commonly found as the drivi...
Post a Comment
Read more

SMS via Web

I took time off today to play with SMS via the web it was very cool, had to work on my database and convert it into a CVS which enable me to import it into the SMS databas thereafter, I was able to compose and send messages out, I am using this tool to remind people to check mails but more importantly since we need to wake up participants coming to our legal KM workshop early in the morning to drive two and half hours to the workshop venue, hope to use the tool of SMS to wake them up, hope they would not be cross with us about reminding them to woke up read more about our SMS solution provider SMSGH, http://smsgh.alcamidesign.com/smsgh/home/ or www.smsgh.net a youthful Ghanaian company with a dedicated team of professionals who develop this product locally, very impressive During my play time with SMS, customer care from SMSGH was superby. My contact person Alex was particulary helpful in walking me through the system, though easy to use, you need to learn some few things Recently...
Post a Comment
Read more