The Ga West Municipal Assembly on Friday, August 22, 2025, held an intersectoral meeting aimed at deepening collaboration among government departments, state-owned enterprises, and public corporations to ensure coordinated development in the municipality.

The meeting, which took place at the Ga West Municipal Assembly hall, was convened pursuant to Section 81(1) of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936), which mandates District Assemblies to collaborate with other agencies to promote effective governance and sustainable development.

Delivering his first intersectoral meeting address since assuming office, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Hon. John Desmond Sowah Nai, welcomed participants and expressed appreciation for their commitment to the development of the municipality.

He emphasised that development cannot be achieved in isolation, stressing the importance of dialogue, joint planning, and shared responsibility. “Section 81 of Act 936 mandates us to work together in a spirit of partnership, coordination, and collaboration. This meeting is a reminder that development must be harmonised to avoid duplication and maximise our resources,” he noted.

Hon. Sowah Nai shared his vision of rebranding, restructuring, and reorganising Ga West to attract both local and international partnerships. He encouraged participants to engage constructively, share knowledge, and develop practical solutions that would improve governance and bring development closer to the people.

The Municipal Planning Officer, Mrs. Cynthia Bonsah, presented highlights of the municipality’s upcoming 2026–2029 Medium-Term Development Plan. She explained that the plan, mandated by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) Act 479 and the Planning Systems Act 480, builds on situational analysis, prioritisation of key challenges, and stakeholder input.

She disclosed that as at December 2024, the Assembly had achieved 72.8% of the targets set in the current 2022–2025 development plan and was optimistic about the assembly’s ability to surpass 95% by the end of 2025. “Our aim is to ensure coordinated efforts that prevent wastage of scarce resources while delivering tangible benefits to residents,” she said.

Her presentation also highlighted the Assembly’s efforts in implementing government’s social intervention programmes like the School Feeding Programme, NHIS, LEAP, PWD support and Rural Enterprising Programmes. Mrs. Bonsah emphasised the importance of stakeholder ownership of development projects and the need for transparency in communicating plans to the residents.

16 sector heads gave a brief presentation on their strategies to enhance collaboration, improve service delivery and tackle multifaceted challenges they encounter in their service deliveries. These sectors include Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Intercity State Transport Corporation, Complementary Education Agency, Crop Research Institute, Environmental Protection Agency, Electricity Company of Ghana, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, National Service Authority, Legal Aid, National Identification Authority, Electoral Commission of Ghana, Ghana Police Service among others.

In his closing remarks, Hon. Sowah Nai urged all Institutional heads to take intersectoral meetings serious. He announced measures to address pressing issues like the provision of potable water for all communities, implementation of a robust action plan to increase Internally Generated Funds (IGF), construction of additional Office space, rehabilitation and asphalting of access roads within the next three months, strict enforcement of building regulations and demolition of structures in water ways, revival of town council systems to enforce sanitation by-laws, the introduction of separate bins for recycling and general waste and monthly cleanup exercises to be led by agencies in rotation. He also stated the assembly is having an ongoing discussion with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to address streetlight challenges.

The MCE reiterated his commitment to discipline, teamwork, and transparency, assuring participants that the Assembly would continue to maximise its limited resources for the benefit of residents. “Together, we can restructure, rebrand, and reorganise Ga West into a municipality that stands out as a model of effective collaboration,” he concluded.

Source: Dorcas Asantewaa Osei, GWMA-ISD

               Rachel Sarpong, GWMA-ISD