The Atiwa East District Assembly in its bid to account to the citizenry on the activities and projects of the Assembly as in line with section 40 of the local Government Act 2016, Act 936 organized a community engagement with the people of Akutuase on the May 29th 2024 at the Akutuase durbar grounds.The meeting was to engage citizen to understand the causes of our current economic challenges and appreciate the steps and efforts of government and the Assembly in addressing them. The engagement was also to rally the support of every citizen behind the government and the Assembly in its quest to overcome the current economic challenges confronting the nation. The visit was aimed at bringing governance to the doorstep of citizen in the District and to rally support of all stakeholders in the development of the District. The programme also gave the Assembly the opportunity to explain to the people, its projects and programmes implemented, specifically in the areas of the local economy, agriculture, education, health, security, social infrastructure and governance among others, with the overall objective of promoting development in the District. The DCE’s engagement was also aimed at discussing the developmental challenges confronting the community as well as the individual and collective roles of all stakeholders in tackling them. The program was a community durbar with chiefs and people of Akutuase. Organizational works and field contacts were carried out prior to the program. Letters and stakeholder consultations were undertaken with chiefs and elders, Assembly members and unit committee members as well as other opinion leaders to ensure full participation of all stakeholders. Various heads of departments were also engaged prior to the program.In attendance were Hon. Kwabena Panin Nkansah (DCE), Mr. Shakil Kpedau Mahamood (District Coordinating), Madam Efua Afful (District Health Director), Mr. William Aseidu-Akrofi (District Director- Agriculture), Mr. Jacob Amankwa Oti (District Registration Officer-NIA and the Assembly Member, Sekyere-Dankwa Electoral Area), Mr. Saviour Ametefe (District Director-NCCE), Joseph Agbeko (District Director-CHRAJ), Simon Amewuda (District Environmental Officer), Mr. Owusu Emmanuel (Head of Works Department), Mr. Frederick Agyei Kofi (District information officer), Mr. Raymond Ibrahim (District police commander) and Mr. Prince Obeng Donkor (Right to information Officer & assistant information officer).In speaking was the DCE, Hon. Kwabena Panin Nkansah in his presentation said the local government system requires regular meetings with key stakeholders in the various communities to ascertain their developmental needs and discuss how to address them. He said his visit was to let citizens know what is happening in the country and how government is responding to them. He said the world allover is going through economic challenges and Ghana being part of the global economy is experiencing its fair share of the crisis. Hon. Kwabena Panin Nkansah explained that that government is very much aware of the current economic challenges confronting the country and taking steps to address them. He urged the youth to be innovative and take advantage of the various government interventions as a way addressing the country economic crises in the areas of agriculture, skills training and development. The DCE added that despite the challenges, the government ensures that workers are paid their salary every month whiles many projects and programmes of the government continue to be executed across the country. Hon. Kwabena Panin Nkansah said the government is currently constructing a 100-bed Trauma Hospital at Anyinam and a 40-bed Mother and Child Hospital at Enyiresi to help address the health needs of the people in the District. He also added a technical and a vocational School is being constructed to it completion at Anyinam, to provide skills training to the youth in the District. He called on the community to support the Assembly in paying their rates and fees to help the Assembly executes its developmental projects and programmes in the District.The District Director of Agriculture, Mr. William Aseidu-Akrofi also explained to the community some of the flagship programmes of government in the Area of Agriculture which are being implemented in the District to help farmers and boost production in the District. He said the District has adopted oil palm and coconut plantation as its crop under the planting for export and rural development initiative and has so far distributed over 90,000 seedlings to farmers across the District. He added that the District in also making strides in value addition to farm produce. The Agric. Director cited the Atiwa rice, Atiwa Tombrown, Adom palm oil, Y-choco chocolate, Abiba Agra Rice as some of the new product in the market that are being produced in the District. The District has also provided skills training to women in agri-business and exhibition forums to scout for potential markets for products from the District. Mr. Ofosu said the government apart from the COCOABOD has also established Tree Crop Development Authority He called on farmers who give out their farmlands for galamsey activities to put a stop to it as it endangers the sustainability of the many government initiatives in the Agric. Sector. The District Registration Officer of the NIA, Mr. Jacob Amankwa Oti also addressed the gathering on the importance of the Ghana Card and the Need for every citizen to visit the District office and register. He said the policy of the government is to formalize the economy and make the Ghana Card the only form of Identity in future. As a result, transacting business in the country will be difficult for people who do not have the Ghana Card. He added that with Ghana Card, accessing social services such as health, education, communication, insurance, banking among others will be safer, easier and faster. The NIA department is ever ready to register anyone qualified to be registered under the NIA Ghana card initiative as the law specified. In addition, those who have misplaced their cards can also visit the District Office for replacement and all who have attained the age of 15 years and above who have not yet registered can also visit the District Office and register. He concluded that, editorial of personal information is also rendered to residence and at certain condition(s) will fees be charged or not. The District Health Director Madam, Efua Afful in her presentation touched on increasing rate of teenage Pregnancy and cases of attempted abortion among the youth; its causes, effects and the measure to address them. She also expressed concern about the increasing rate of HIV/AIDS in the District and worried about the future of the teenage girls and called on parents to constantly engage their children on the dangers of premarital sex. She advised pregnant mothers to visit the hospital early to prevent mother-to-child transmission. She said her outfit has rolled out a series of public sensitization in schools and called on parents to support them in the fight against the menace.OPEN FORUMThe following issues of concern were raised by the community during the open forum.• Extension of electricity to the new areas.• Drilling of boreholes at advantageous places.• Telecommunication Network challenge• Reasons for seedling being sold out to the farmers whiles it is free of charges under government initiative.• Illegal mining affecting their riversSolutions allocated to these issues stated above from the event are as follows:• The assembly and ECG will collaborate to address the issue of electricity extension in the community.• Bad telecommunication is one of the general challenges facing atiwa east and will be addressed soon.• According to the government initiative, seedlings are free, and the community edged to report any extension officers violating the law to the assembly or the agric director.• To the drilling of boreholes, management will discuss how best the issues will be addressed.• Communication will be made to River warden security task force to apprehend culprit(s), and edged the community to report any suspicious illegal mining within their backyard to the assembly as soon as possible.