WELCOME TO
GA CENTRAL MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY
WELCOME TO
GA CENTRAL MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY
GA CENTRAL MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY PROFILE
INTRODUCTION
The Ga Central Municipal Assembly (GCMA) came into existence on 28th June 2012 by the Legislative Instrument 2135. GCMA is one of the Twenty-nine (29) Assemblies in Greater Accra and covers a Land Area of 48.997 (approximately 49) Square kilometer. It shares boundaries with Okai kwei North Municipal Assembly to the South, Ga North Municipal Assembly to the East and North, and Weija Gbawe Municipal Assembly to the West.
The Municipality lies within coastal undulating landscape region of Greater Accra with highest point barely reach 76meters above sea level.
The Municipality is drained by Lafa (which flows from southeast to southwest of the Municipality) Ole river (flows in the central-south to the north to join the Nsaki river), Nsufa (flows south west) and Nsaki stream (flows into the Northeast to the South west to join the Weija lake).
The 2010 National Population and Housing Census put the Municipality’s population at 117,220 with an annual growth rate of 3.6%. The projected population for the year 2021 is therefore 212,946.
Vision and Mission of the Assembly
The vision and mission statements of the Assembly are to enhance the Assembly's image as being competent and focus with the emphasis to facilitate the poverty reduction by accelerating growth through its developmental projects. They are also meant to inspire community members to realize their dreams through positive, effective action and participation as declared below:
It is out of these vision and mission statement that the Development Focus of the Assembly is formed.
The Assembly develops it communities and relates to the citizenry with some core values in an orderly functions as stated below:
The Assembly performs about 98 functions as a Municipal Assembly which mandated by the Constitution of Ghana and the Local Government Act, Act (936) and ranges from Administrative duties through ensuring clean environment, providing security, infrastructures, social amenities and promoting socio-economic investment within the Municipality. The Constitution mandated the Assembly to formulate and execute plans, programmes and strategies for effective mobilization of resources necessary for the overall development of the district. These include levying and collection of taxes, rates, duties and fees. These functions of the Assembly are summarized in the Constitution as deliberative, legislative and executive functions. However, Section 10 (3) of the Local Government Act, Act 462 without prejudice to the Constitution specifies into:
(a) Responsible for the overall development of the Municipality and ensuring the preparation and submission through the Regional Coordinating Council;
(i) Development plans of the Municipality to the NDPC for approval; and
(ii) The budget of the Assembly related to the approved plans to the Minister for Finance for approval;
(b) Formulate and execute plans, programmes and strategies for the effective mobilization of the resources necessary for the overall development of the Municipality;
(c) Promote and support productive activity and social development in the Municipality and remove any obstacles to initiative and development;
(d) Initiate programmes for the development of basic infrastructure and provide municipal works and services in the Municipality;
(e) Responsible for the development, improvement and management of human settlements and the environment in the district;
(f) In co-operation with the appropriate national and local security agencies maintain security and public safety in the Municipality;
(g) Ensure ready access to courts in the Municipality for the promotion of justice;
(h) Initiate, sponsor or carry out such studies as may be necessary for the discharge of any of the functions conferred by its establishing act or any other enactment; and
(i) Perform such other functions as may be provided under any other enactment
Ga Central Municipal Assembly (GCMA) finds itself within the local government structure of Ghana. Local government in Ghana is a three tier structure starting from Regional Coordinating Councils, District/Municipal/Metropolitan Assemblies as the second tier and sub structures, i.e. town and area council, zonal councils and sub-district structures. The Sub structure, are basically the grass root participation in decision making, Regional Coordinating Councils are for monitoring and harmonization of plans, projects and programme of district, Metropolitan, Municipal Assemblies.
GCMA is governed by the following structure:
GCMA is established by Legislative Instrument 2135 of 2012. The LI spells outs 86 functions to be performed by the Assembly.
The General Assembly is the highest Political and Administrative body in the District Assembly. The Presiding member who is elected by the members of the Assembly presides over all meetings of the General Assembly meetings.
In the exercise of its executive functions, the Assembly has an Executive Committee which is chaired by the Hon. Municipal Chief Executive. The executive committee by the instrument which sets its up is in charge of the day to day administration.
GCMA Executive Committee has Seven (7) sub-committees through which it handles specific assignment. The six sub-committees are as follows:
The Assembly does not have Sub-committees on Education and Environmental and Sanitation.
Another committee through which the Assembly reaches out to the public to address complains and boosts its image is the Public Relations and Complaints Committee. This committee is chaired by the Presiding member of the Assembly.
Governance involves participation of the citizenry in decisions affecting their lives. Effective participation in decision making as well as implementing decisions taken can be said to constitute good governance. GCMA recognizes the existence of groups like Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s), Faith Based Organizations (FBO’s), Residents and Landlords Associations whose views are used in the running of the municipality effectively. These are part of the stakeholders in the governance of the Municipality and they are effectively used in areas such as problem identification, prioritizing of projects and programmes etc. other areas that the stakeholders are used include fixing of rates, fees and fines.
The Ga Central Municipal Assembly has two Zonal Councils, the Anyaa and Chantan Zonal Councils.
The main functions of these Zonal councils include the mobilization of revenue, implementation of policies at the local level and also mobilize community to participate in decision making. The Zonal Council structure is a sub-structure of a Municipal Assembly, which derives its design from the Local Government organizational structure as depicted in the fig 1 above.
Electoral Unit committees
The Municipality has 13 Unit Committees. The main function of the unit committee is community mobilization to participate in decision making processes. These committees are however not functioning effectively as they should because of inadequate support for their activities and the voluntary nature of the unit committee.
Electoral Areas and the Description of Towns/Area Councils
NO. |
ELECTORAL AREA |
COMMUNITIES |
1 |
Ablekuma |
Ablekuma, Gonse, Pentecost Area, Olebu, Ablekuma New Town, Young Souls School Area, Victory School Area, Fan Milk |
2 |
Olebu |
Zamzam, God first, konkonba , Six to Six, Vicolis school area |
3 |
Agape |
Pentecost, Agape top ,Agape Down, Deoke School Area, Agape Park area |
4 |
Anyaa West |
Anyaa, Palas Town, N. I. C., Old Quarry Area, |
5 |
Anyaa East |
Anyaa Market Area, N. I. C, Old Quarry Area |
6 |
Awoshie |
Awoshie Lafa Area, A-Lang, Odorgonnor Secondary School Area, Apostle Safo School Area, Obishiagono Area, Amy’s Blessed School Area |
7 |
Kwashie-Bu |
Kwashie Bu, Race Course, Rect Academy Area, Kubison Area |
8 |
Lomnava |
Lomnava, Israel, Tantra Hill Down, Roman Catholic Seminary Area, (Eastern Part), Ayigbe Junction Area |
9 |
Nii Okaiman East
|
Chantan, Abeka Motorway JHS Area, Cosmos School Area, New Achimota Market Area, Scarlet School Area |
10 |
Nii Okaiman West |
Tabora No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6, Alhaji Down |
11 |
Santa Maria |
Santa Maria, Future Link Area, Sheshie School Area, Anchor of Hope Area, Deseret Hospital |
12 |
Anti Aku |
Anti Aku, Dela Junction, Washing base, School Junction, Konkompe Area, Nsumfa (South), |
13 |
Sowutuom
|
Sowutuom Area, Chop Bar Area, Adu Gyanfi School Area, Pentecost University College Area, Polo Junction Area |
Ga Central Municipality has only one public health facility, a CHPS compound at Anyaa, which only offers first aid for minor ailment. Residents who wish to benefit from the government policies such as the NHIS and other health care policies, visit public hospital at the adjacent district hospitals at Achimota, Madina or Legon hospitals and even go to the point of accessing the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, 37 Military Hospital and Ridge Hospital which are quiet a distance.
There are 21 private health facilities in the Municipality. Three (3) are have the status of hospitals, ten (10) clinics, eight (8) maternity homes. The three main private hospitals are Agbeve Herbal, Deseret and Mary Lucy Hospitals situated at Sowutuom, Santa Maria and Anyaa-Awoshie respectively.These health facilities render laboratory, pharmacy, family planning, reproductive and child health and maternal services at a very high cost which cannot be afforded by most people in the municipality.Thus Municipality has high patronage of herbal clinics.However, the Assembly is renting a private building to be used as a Municipal clinic.
Population to Doctor Ratio is 158,437:1 (public facility)
Population to Nurse Ratio is 4,062:1 (public facility)
The Municipality has about 152 pharmacy and chemical shops / stores which cater for dispensary of drugs to needed patients and clients.
The Municipality’s top five (5) common diseases are Malaria, Skin Diseases, Acute Respiratory Infection, Hypertension and Diarrhoea Diseases.
GCMA has 38 levels of public schools being run in only 14 educational blocks, and 558 private schools. The table below shows types and levels of schools in the Municipality. However, the data on the private schools is not very clear and effort is being made to ascertain the exact number of private schools in the Municipality.
Number of Types of Education in the Municipality
Level of Education |
Category |
No. of Schools |
Total Per Levels |
Public Schools Total Level |
Private Schools Total Level |
Total Level |
Kindergarten |
Public |
12 |
212 |
38 |
558 |
596 |
Private |
200 |
|||||
Primary Schools |
Public |
14 |
214 |
|||
Private |
200 |
|||||
Junior High School. |
Public |
11 |
158 |
|||
Private |
147 |
|||||
Senior High Sch. / Vocat. / Techn. |
Public |
1 |
12 |
|||
Private |
11 |
The Municipality has 12 Senior High Schools (SHS) out of which only 1 is public school. There are 158 Junior High Schools, 11 are public and rest are private. The Municipality has 214 Primary schools of which only 14 are public, while as there are 212 Kindergarten, which 12 are publicly owned.
The main problem with education is inadequate infrastructure which has led to overcrowded classrooms. The present classroom size in the public schools is between 55 to 70 pupils per class. This situation puts a lot of stress on the teachers and makes learning environment not conducive for the pupils. There is the urgent need to construct additional classrooms to solve this problem.
Staffing In Public Schools
There are One Hundred and Ninety (190) teachers in the basic schools with 174 (91%) being trained teachers while 16 (9%) are untrained.
Tertiary Education
The Municipality boasts of two Private Universities which include the Pentecost University College (PUC) and Maranatha University. Municipality has Seminary where Catholic priests and brotherhood are trained.
Analysis of the 2016 BECE for Candidates from Both Public and Private Schools
The table is a summary of performance of the candidates in the 2016 BECE from GCMA Municipality.
The total number of registered candidates was 4,441 out of this number 4,410 wrote the exams and 839 represents candidates from Public schools and 3,571 also from the Private schools.
The number of candidates that passed the BECE (from aggregate 6—30) was 3,612 representing 81.3%.
From the individual sections; 631 candidates from the Public schools passed (from aggregate 6—30) representing 75.21%. For the Private schools, 2,946 candidates passed which also represents 82.50%. In all 135 obtained aggregate 6, 79 being male and 56 female.
Table was used to generate the graph showing the performance of the Public and Private schools candidate that took the 2016 BECE.
TYPE |
NUMBER OF CANDIDATES PRESENT |
NUMBER OF PUPILS WITH AGGREGATE 6 |
NUMBER OF PUPILS WITH AGGREGATE 6-30 |
NUMBER PASSED |
% PASSED |
||||||
MALE |
FEMALE |
TOTAL |
MALE |
FEMALE |
TOTAL |
MALE |
FEMALE |
TOTAL |
|||
PUBLIC |
388 |
451 |
839 |
7 |
3 |
10 |
307 |
324 |
631 |
631 |
75.21% |
PRIVATE |
1788 |
1783 |
3571 |
72 |
53 |
125 |
1464 |
1443 |
2946 |
2946 |
82.50% |
TOTAL |
2176 |
2234 |
4410 |
79 |
56 |
135 |
1771 |
1766 |
3577 |
3577 |
81.11% |
Performance in Graph
Number of candidates who wrote the BECE
Number of candidates who obtain aggregate 6 in the BECE
Number of candidates who obtain aggregate 6-30 in the BECE
Number of candidates who passed the BECE
The percentage of candidates who passed the BECE
Trained and Untrained Teachers in Public Schools
Level |
Trained Teachers |
Untrained Teachers |
||||
|
Male |
Female |
Total |
Male |
Female |
Total |
Kindergarten |
0 |
23 |
23 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Primary |
13 |
73 |
86 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Junior High Sch. |
51 |
53 |
104 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Total |
64 |
149 |
213 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Source: GCMA Municipal Education Directorate
The table above shows higher numbers of female teachers are more than male teachers in all level of categories.
GCMA is gradually losing its land of agriculture to other sector development of the economy. Less than 20% of its people are into agriculture. The major agricultural activity is livestock production. These include: poultry, pigs and rabbits productions. However, there are areas where crops such as maize and cassava are grown at Odorgonno. Mushrooms are also grown in the municipality. Crop farming activities are prevalent in the Ablekuma, Olebu, CP areas etc. Animal rearing is widely practiced within the Municipality.
The main challenge is getting reliable and safe water sources for cultivation apart from the herculean land problem. There is however water bodies spread across the Municipality that could be utilized for irrigation purposes. Currently most of the water bodies are underutilized.
Another major setback to crop production in the Municipality is the conversion of arable lands into estate developments without adequate demarcation.
Crops Cultivated in the Municipality-2017
Crop |
Hectares |
Tomato |
2.3 |
Pepper |
1.0 |
Onion/Shallot |
6.0 |
Maize |
5.1 |
Cassava |
5.4 |
Lettuce |
2.0 |
The table above shows the true picture of the situation of crop production in the Municipality which is not encouraging due to the use of agriculture lands for estate development. Notwithstanding the use of land for estate development, the Municipality is determined to promote backyard gardening.
Livestock farming
Livestock farming in the municipality is in two folds, pastoral farmers who undertake the rearing of animals as their main occupation and mixed farmers also engaged in crop farming. There is also an intensive and semi-intensive system of rearing in the Municipality which are more prevalent than the extensive systems because of the pressure on lands in GCMA. Most houses keep few domestics birds in their houses, even though located in high class areas.
Inadequate forage due to high rate of urbanization and estate development, high cost of feeding and other inputs, livestock stealing and inadequate extension services are some challenges facing the livestock production in the Municipality.
Type of Animal |
Production level |
Cattle |
200 |
Pigs |
500 |
Sheep and Goats |
2,050 |
Poultry |
12,000 |
Rabbit |
1,000 |
Environmental Sanitation Baseline
This chapter shall be examining the current situation of the environmental sanitation in the municipality. The examination is primarily based on field data collected and collated as well as observations made by the team.
The data collected with the help of household and institutional survey instruments was along the following components:
The presentation in this chapter shall however be the major source of inference in subsequent chapters, where needs will be assessed and programmes and projects designed to improve upon the situation.
Waste Management Unit
Waste Management Unit is responsible for the Hardware part of Environmental Health. These include collection of waste, transportation, treatment, and disposal of both liquid and solid waste, cleaning of drains, Lagoons, water bodies as well as all aspects of engineering, operation and maintenance of sanitary infrastructure. The situation pertaining to the two in the Municipality is discussed below.
1.3.9.2 Overview of Solid Waste Management
The municipality is estimated to generate about 94 tons/day of solid waste with an estimated generation rate of 0.75kg/capita/day. The major sources include households, markets and lorry parks, hospitals/clinics, schools, small to medium scale industries and other institutions. The total volume leads to 34,310 tonnes per year.
23% of the total solid waste generated daily is collected directly from their dwellings (House to House), 20% is burned, 16.4% use various household receptacles for storage and send to communal container stations. It is reported that 2.1% of households bury their refuse while 38.5% dump at unspecific locations including vacant lots drains and embankment of water sources. In total 60.6% of all refuse generated is currently not collected and disposed improperly.
Primary sources of Solid Waste in the Municipality
The sources of solid waste in the Municipality have been categorized into the following forms:
Other secondary sources include droppings from solid waste transporters i.e. tricycles.
Liquid Waste Management
Human Excreta (faecal matter also known as black water), urine and wastewater (also known ‘grey water’ or Sullage) constitute the major forms of liquid waste in the Municipality. Therefore, liquid wastes are managed in the Municipality with different toilet facilities, urinals and drains of different types. Excreta and urine are mostly collected in septic tanks, unlined pits and concrete holding chambers. When full, the waste matter is dislodged from septic tanks and other holding chambers using Cesspit emptier trucks (Vacuum trucks) and sent to a liquid waste disposal site. Traditional pit latrines are covered with sand when full and another site will be used.
In the Municipality and in Ghana as whole, grey waste water is largely disposed of in storm water drainage systems. Therefore in practice, most grey water is discarded straight into (storm) water drains and outflows to surface water. There is no grey waste water treatment site available whereas there is no sewerage system in place to convey grey water separately.
