GOOD GOVERNANCE ADMINISTRATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
District Assembly: Functions and Structure
The Sene District Assembly was established by the Legislative Instrument (LI) 1481, 1989 to operate as autonomous district from Atebubu district.  The District Assembly is the highest administrative and political authority in the district which is charged with the overall responsibility of formulating and implementing development plans, programmes and projects.  The Assembly comprises 43 members with 30 elected and 13 appointees.

The Sene District Assembly’s Executive Committee has the following sub-committees:

1. Finance and Administrative
2. Development Planning
3. Social Services
4. Works
5. Agriculture
6. Education
7. Justice and Security
8. Environmental and
9. Grievances and Complaints

The Sub-Committees are the workshops of the Executive Committee which coordinates and harmonize their plans and programmes in the form of recommendations and submits them as comprehensive plans of action to the Assembly for approval.

The Assembly is responsible for the overall development of the district by way of the preparation of development plans and budget.

Its functions include:
i.   Formulating and executing plans, programmes and strategies for the effective mobilization of the district’s resources;
ii. Promoting and supporting productive activity and social development in the district
iii.   Initiating policies for the development of basic infrastructure
iv.  Development and management of human settlement and the environment
v.    Ensuring ready access to courts in the district for the promotion of justice
vi.  Coordinating, integrating and harmonizing the execution of programmes and projects under approved development plans for the district and other development programmes promoted or carried out by ministries, departments, public corporations and non-governmental organizations in the district.

The Sene District Assembly is obliged to follow the structure of District Assemblies shown in Figure 1.5  as given by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment.  In this structure, the office of the District Assembly is the highest authority in the district. 

The next office in line of importance is the Executive Committee, which performs the executive and administrative functions of the Assembly.  This committee operates through its various Sub-Committees with the District Coordinating Director (DCD) coordinating the activities in all the Sub-Committees.  The Executive Committee is chaired by the District Chief Executive (DCE), who remains the political and executive head of the district.  Under the District Coordinating Director are also the Deputy  Directors of District Planning Coordinating Unit (DPCU) and the Administration.

The DPCU has divisions for social, economic and spatial development while the Administration has internal administration, treasury and municipal services.  Below these are the eleven District Assembly Departments as well as Non-Decentralized Agencies.  These departments and agencies are to form integral parts of the assemblies with the heads of such departments being ex-officio members of the Assembly.  However, in Sene District, the existing structure differs slightly from what the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment (through NDPC) stipulates (See figure  1.6).  Under the District Coordinating Director, we have the Works and Environmental sections, Executive Office and District Finance Office.
                       
District Assembly Departments
Good Government in the district is affected by the absence of a number of departments, and weak capacity of the existing departments. The following have not been established in the district.

1. In formation Services: The office at Atebubu is in charge of the district. The service is inadequate and limits the ability of the district to embark on a number public education programmes.
2. Town and Country Planning: The office at Atebubu is in charge of the district. The service is inadequate. Layouts of the main settlements have not been prepared. Development control is therefore a problem.
3. Fire Service: The office at Atebubu is in charge of the district. The Officer visits only once a while, specifically to attend DISEC Meetings. Activities in the form of fire prevention and control by the men from Atebubu are absent in the district
4. Local Government Inspector: The officer at Atebubu is in charge of the district. His visits to the district is not regular.
5. Forestry: The officer at Atebubu is in-charge of the Sene District.  The absence of the department is a problem for the promotion of afforestation programmes in the district.
6. Parks and Gardens: it has not been established, and there are no services. This affects the promotion of landscaping and the development of gardens. 
7. Labour Officer: It is not available in the district
8. Land Valuation Board: It is not available in the district

The existing departments of the District Assembly as well as the decentralized departments are also facing problems that limit their operations.

1. There is inadequate staff for the departments. For instance there are some departments with one-person staff. Some departments with one-person staff. Some departments are staffed with personnel who are not qualified since some qualified staff posted to the district refused to accept the posting because of the conditions in the district, including transportation problems.
2. Most of the departments are characterized by inadequate logistics, like vehicles and telecommunication facilities which affect their operations.
3. Most of departments also complain of inadequate funds to implement their programme
4. There is shortage of staff accommodation.
5. There is also shortage of office accommodation

Area Councils
The district has been divided into 5 Town/Area Councils. These are:

• Kwame Danso Town Council,
• Bantama Area Council,
• Kyeamekrom Area Council,
• Bassa Area Council, and
• Kajaji Area Council

The Area Council Offices have been established but not furnished as seen in Table 1.38

Even though Area Council Officers have been established, they are still not operational due to some problems. Some of the problems are as follows:

1. Staffing: The District Assembly has not been able to recruit staff to operate the officers. One of the main reasons is that owing to the generally low literacy level in the district it is difficult to get the right caliber of staff. In addition, even if the District Assembly were to find the caliber of staff for the Area Council Officers, payment of remuneration would be a problem since there is inadequate revenue generation.
2. Logistics: The Area Council Officers have not been supplied with logistics for their operation. This is due to funding problems.
3. Accessibility: Due to the large water bodies in the district, the existence of several islands, and poor network, the operations of the Area Council have become very difficult due to transportation difficulties.
4. Poor Communication: The Area Council in general lack communication facilities for effective communication with the District Administration, and with their communities. This is due to the lack of telecommunication facilities and poor access.

Unit Committee
Unit committees form the base structure of the new local government system. They deal directly with the people.  They help to organize of committees The unit Committees under the various area Councils are shown in Table 1.37.

The potential role of the unit Committees in development planning and management in the district has not been exploited.  Even though many of them are operational, if the District Assembly can build their capacity and get them well integrated into the local government system, it will go a long way to improve governance is inadequacy of funds and lack of institutional coordination of all the committees.

Traditionl Administration
The Sene district has 4 traditional councils namely:
i.    Wiase Traditional Council, Wiase
ii    Dwan Traditional Council, Kwame Danso (Dwankrom)
iii.    Bassa Traditional Council, Bassa
iv    Nkomi Traditional Council, Kajaji

The Traditional Leaders have been playing an important role in the development of the district. They have been mobilizing their people for development. It has been observed in the district that it is difficult to mobilize the people when the traditional leaders are not involved. There are few cases of chieftaincy disputes in the district. However, these are kept under control with the help of DISEC.

Non-Governmental Organizations
The main and only Non-Governmental Organization operating in the Sene District is the World Vision Ghana (WVG).  WVG is in the areas of Agriculture, Education, Health,  Water and Sanitation as she has helped to clad, rehabilitate and construct a lot of basic schools, pre-schools with ancillary facilities and playground.  WVG has drilled 147 boreholes in 65 communities in district to ensure access to potable water supply. 

Moreover, WVG embarks on Health, Education in schools and supports the Ghana Health Service tremendously in the area of immunization.  WVG has adopted Krenkuase L/A JSS as a model school and thereby offers a lot of support to it.  WVG has provided sponsorship to 3,000 children in the district.

Community-Based Organizations
There are five (5) CBOs operating in the District. They have completed work in Education and Campaign in the fight against HIV/AIDS pandemic. Their programmes include among others: rallies, seminars, quiz competition, drama and film shows.

Business Advisory Centre (BAC)
The Sene District was one of the 53 new districts which entered the GOG / IFAD based Rural Enterprises Project (REP II) in March 2004. Business Advisory Centre (BAC) has been set and furnished by the Assembly.  So far the BAC has done training for clients in areas of: Beekeeping, Grass Cutter rearing, soap making etc.

The breakdown is as follows:
Type of Activity                      No. of Client
Baking                                           -          16
Beekeeping                                  -          84
Grasscutter rearing                     -       108
Soap making                                -         32
Hairdressing                                 -         71
Total                                                        311

Police Service
There are three (3) Police Stations in the district. These are found at Kwame Danso, Kojokrom and Bassa. The total number of men in the district is 10, (Kwame Danso 4, Bassa 3 and Kojokrom 3) giving a police-population ratio of 1:9,153.7. This shows inadequate police service in the district.

However, crime rate is one of the lowest in the region. Some of the problems of the Police Service in the district include inadequate staff accommodation, Lack of communication equipment, inadequate personnel, inadequate stationery, and inadequate funds for their operations. There is not a single police vehicle in the district.

Law Courts
There is one magistrate court in the district located at Kwame Danso.  However, it has no Resident Magistrate.  The court sits once in a week.  In view of the fact that a criminal cannot be detained for more than 48 hours, the infrequent sitting of the court presents a problem for justice and security. 

The major court cases in the district are civil cases.  There are 50 civil cases and 6 criminal cases before the court as at the time of writing this report. Consequently, several cases are referred to Atebubu.  Some litigants also send their cases to Atebubu instead of Kwame Danso owing to delays in sitting.  The logistics situation for the court is very poor.

For tables refer to pdf file attached.