THE Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TAMA) has held a Town Hall meeting where the mayor, Alhaji Haruna Abdulai Friday, outlined his achievements, spelt out his visions and answered questions bordering on the accelerated development of the metropolis.
The meeting, which was the second of its kind to be held by the assembly, was attended by the general public, members of the assembly, some heads of departments and their officials.
Among the topics discussed were revenue mobilisation, employment generation, water and sanitation and peace and security.
Alhaji Friday indicated that there had been some improvements in the revenue mobilisation drive by the assembly last year.
He said out of the GH¢1500000 cedis targetted for the year, the assembly was able to mobilise.
He further indicated that the total debts inherited before May 2009 was “over GH¢320,000 but we have so far serviced about 90 per cent of the debts.”
The mayor denied a statement that his outfit was not sensitive to the needs of the youth and disclosed that under the National Youth Employment Programme, a total number of 7707 people had been engaged in productive ventures through the eleven modules rolled out by the programme.
The Youth in Agriculture programme had also supported a total of 82 groups with a numerical strength of 1,976 farmers with an interest-free loan to cultivate 3,401 acres of rice, maize and soya beans.
Additionally, some livestock farmers were also given animals to rear and that more farmers would be benefiting from the programme this year.
Alhaji Friday also stated that the assembly had over the last two years extended pipe-borne water and constructed several public toilets to a number of communities and schools in collaboration with its development partners.
Some of the beneficiary communities include Garizegu, Nyanshegu, Taha, Gbalahi and Wovogu.
On the prevailing peace and security in the metropolis, the mayor explained that it was as a result of the effective co-ordination of all security agencies and other stakeholders in the maintenance of law and order.
Task forces had also been established in all the 54 electoral areas in the metropolis with a numerical strength of 1,242 volunteers to give early warning signals to prevent and manage conflicts.
Training and some logistical support had also been offered members of the task force to aid them in their duties. According to the mayor, the task force had so far arrested over 114 suspected criminals during their night patrols and that most of them had since been prosecuted.
He announced that an investment forum is to be held in the metropolis to showcase the potential of the area to attract the needed investments for accelerated growth.
“With the relative peace achieved, coupled with the increased internal revenue mobilisation performance of over 100 per cent, high employment opportunities and food security, there has been an increase in commercial activities leading to improved standard of life,” the mayor stated.
He, however, observed that more efforts would be needed to sustain the gains made over the years.
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