UER comes fourth in development
The Upper East Region scored 61 per cent on the development chart, placing it fourth among the 10 regions, the 2016 District League Table (DLT), launched at a stakeholders’ meeting in Bolgatanga, has said.
At the municipal and district level, the Bawku Municipal placed first with an average top score of 69.3 per cent while the Builsa South District came last with a score of 47.8 per cent out of the 13 districts examined under all sector indicators including water, sanitation, education, governance, health and security.
The DLT, which is the third of its kind conducted nationwide,is organised by UNICEF and the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
Mr Paul Osei Tuffour, the Northern Regional CDD Programme Officer, and Ms Evelyn Ngaanoma of UNICEF, presented the rankings.
Mr Tuffuor said on education, six out of the 13 districts scored above the regional mark of 61 per cent and national pass mark of 59 per cent, with Bawku West, Pusiga, Bongo , Kassena West and Kassena Nankana Municipal all scoring above the pass mark.
The Pusiga District scored highest with 66.2 per cent on education in the Basic Education Certificate Examination in 2014 and 2015, while Bawku West came second with 65.4 per cent and Builsa South scored the lowest with 52.6 per cent.
Mr Tuffuor said Bolgatanga Municipal, Bawku West, Nabdam, Builsa North, Kassena Nankana Municipal and Talensi scored zero on the sanitation rankings, indicating that no community in those districts had been certified to reach the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status and called for concerted efforts to improve the situation.
In the water access ranking, nine out of 13 districts passed the national average while 11 out of 13 passed the regional average indicating a positive progression in rural water access.
Mr Tuffuor congratulated the Bawku and Bolgatanga municipalities for the achievement on skilled delivery and said the two scored 100 per cent each indicating that mothers accessed the health facilities for supervised deliveries while the Binduri District scored 25.8 per cent, being the least.
On police civilian ratio, Mr Tuffuor said security in all districts, with the exception of Garu Tempani and Builsa South, was good.
Mr Prosper Ahlaivor, the Representative of the Head of Local Government Service, commended the partners for the initiative saying the outcome of the assessment would help strengthen social accountability in development across the country and improve responsiveness in service delivery.
Mr Rockson Bukari, the Upper East Regional Minister, said different levels of development and disparities in performance in the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies placed more deprived areas at a disadvantage.
He called for positive discrimination in allocation of resources to help develop the deprived areas and meet the basic needs of the people.
He said even though the successes chalked in the implementation of the decentralisation and local governance system was commendable, the challenges encountered called for more improved engagements by stakeholders.
Source: GNA