Welcoming participants, the municipal chief executive Hon. Thomas Masud Musah Ayarba said the engagement offers the assembly the opportunity to present its development priorities for the next 4 years to the people for their input, critique and validation adding that participatory planning is the heartbeat of decentralization and local governance.

“The medium term development plan we are presenting today has been carefully prepared in line with the coordinated programme of economic and social development policies of government, the national development panning framework, and the peculiar needs of our municipality. It is designed to serve as a blueprint to guide investment, service delivery and development interventions from 2026 to 2029.” The MCE said.

Hon. Ayarba intimated that in coming up with the plan, the assembly undertook extensive stakeholder consultations with various stakeholders including traditional authorities, assembly members, farmers groups, women and youth associations, traders, religious bodies and other community based organizations.

He identified some of the key development priorities of the draft plan as agriculture modernization and value addition, education and skills development, health and sanitation, infrastructural development, youth empowerment and job creation as well as good governance and security.

The Bono East regional development planning officer Mr. Isaac Nwangu who made some very valuable contributions to the discussions stressed the need to engage all stakeholders including the aged and the physically challenged.

He said it is important to engage cattle herdsmen as a prelude to identifying and resolving their issues with crop farmers which has often led to conflicts and a resultant loss of lives and property.

Presentations on various aspects of the draft plan including: agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation, revenue, local economic development, social welfare and community development, disaster and climate change, roads and infrastructure among others were made for the critique and input of participants.

Stakeholders were drawn from traditional authorities, assembly members, zonal councils, unit committees, civil society organizations, political parties, decentralized departments and the media among others.