By Mildred Siabi-Mensah /Joseph Wiyorbie
Sekondi, March 13, GNA - Mrs. Victoria Araba Dennis, the Co-Chair of the STMA Open Governance Multi-Stakeholder Forum has said that the Metropolis had developed a local action plan that would respond to the growing needs and aspirations of citizens.
According to her, the Open Governance Partnership (OGP) local action plan, would primarily focus on transparency, better accountability and more responsive to citizen's in the delivery of quality services and ultimately bring meaning to STMA vison.
Mrs. Dennis at a media briefing in Sekondi to celebrate the 2019 International OGP week called for massive participation by all and sundry to help build a more sustainable assembly that thrived on the trust and confidence of citizens.
From 11th to 17th March each year has been designated as the Open Governance week to create awareness on the need for the citizenry to play active role in the government decision making process.
Mrs Dennis said in line with the International theme: 'Inclusion', the STMA has chosen "OGP in STMA: the Journey so far towards Attaining a Sustainable and Resilient City", that commands the trust and confidence of all citizens to expose the citizenry to the five commitment areas for action.
She said the multi stakeholder forum was of the firm believe that, seeking answers to societal challenges demanded a more inclusive approach.
She said the significant stride made in the implementation of the first phase of the Action Plan must also be harnessed as the STMA enters the second phase of implementation of the Second Local Action Plan.
Mrs Dennis explained that the second Local Action Plan hinges on five commitments: transparency and accountability in public infrastructure, civic participation and fiscal transparency, Public Service Delivery, Access to Information and Sanitation.
The STMA was competitively selected in 2015 to join 20 subnational government across the globe to give meaning to the tenets of OGP at the grass roots through civil society organisations, local government and most importantly the citizens to spur change.
Mr. Anthony K. K. Sam, the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Chief Executive said the assembly sought to adopt smart governance tools in the second OGP action plan to ensure open, transparent, participatory, innovative and transformational governance with the vision of building sustainability in the structures of the assembly.
In this regard, the assembly has taken great initiatives such as partnership with Engine Room and GovChat under the OGP to enhance responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision making at all levels and build citizens trust and confidence in resource allocation and utilization.
The MCE said the assembly would officially launch the STMA 360 web application to bring ease in acquiring permit.
“I am happy to announce to the good people of the Sekondi/Takoradi that the Assembly has joined the Construction Infrastructure Transparency and Accountability in public infrastructure by working closely with government, industry and civil society to promote disclosure, validation and interpretation of data from infrastructure projects.
This helps to inform and empower citizens and enable them to hold decision makers to account ", the MCE added.
The STMA is the first subnational member across the globe to be admitted by the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative.
Professor George Ofori, the Vice Chair of the Initiative said about six trillion US dollars could be lost annually by 2030 if stringent measures were not put in place to check corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency in the construction sector.
GNA
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS