ABOUT THE ASSEMBLY

Legislative Instrument

Ablekuma West Municipal Assembly is one of the Two Hundred and fifty-four (261) Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana and among the twenty-nine (29) MMDAs in the Greater Accra Region. It was carved from Accra Metropolitan Assembly in 2017. The Assembly was established by legislative Instrument (2017) L.I.2309 with the capital at Dansoman. The Municipal Assembly has two Zonal Councils which operates below the Assembly structure.

The General Assembly has a membership of Seventeen (17) comprising Ten (10) Elected Members, six (6) Government Appointees and One (1) Member of Parliament (Ablekuma West Constituency).

The Municipal Chief Executive is appointed by the President and approved by the General Assembly, happens to be the political and administrative head of the entire Municipality while the Municipal Coordinating Director is the secretary to the Assembly.

Governance

The Local Government and National Development Planning System Act936 respectively establish District Assemblies to perform deliberative, legislative, executive and planning functions. Under the LI 1961 Departments, the Municipal Assembly has a total number of 13 Departments as listed in the table below. The Assembly and its Committees are also listed below. The Assembly Structure and its Departmental Organogram is indicated in the diagram below:

The Assembly is socially accountable to the citizenry through its Public Affairs Unit and the general notices on the notice board. Public Hearings have become mandatory in the Planning and Budgeting cycle of the Assembly and that enables popular participation in governance.

Traditional Authorities are consulted and invited for development programmes of the Assembly. NGO’s, CBO’s, CSO’s operating within the Municipality have enjoyed cordial relationship with the Assembly and are mostly registered with the Assembly through the Social Welfare Department.

Through the Justice and Security Sub-committee and the Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC), the Assembly meets periodically to discuss and address security issues in the Municipality.

There is one main police station, and a fire station with fire tender in the Municipality.

The Governance system of the Assembly provides a platform for democratic and transparent governance and development. There are still improvements required in Governance especially by using the various national assessment as a model for good governance.

General capacity building would be adopted to ensure departments and the General Assembly adheres to legislative and public policy management.

Physical and Natural Environment

The Ablekuma West Municipality is located in the Western part of Accra (Figure 1). It lies within Latitudes 5°47'30"N and 5°27'30"N and Longitudes 0°31'30"W and 0°16'30"W. The Municipality shares boundaries with Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly to the North, Accra Metropolitan Assembly to the East, and Weija –Gbawe Assembly to the West. Also to the Gulf of Guinea to the South. It occupies a land area of approximately 15.01 sq. km with about 25 settlements with population above 200,000.

Source: Ablekuma West Municipal Physical Planning Department (AbWMPPD) 2018

Vision

A Safe, Sustainable Development and Resilient Municipality

 

Mission

‘To provide a safe environment for the people within the Municipality and promote friendly relationship between the Assembly and stakeholders’

 

1.6.3 Geology

The geology of the Assembly consists of Coastal Sand and Mixed (Quartzite and sandstone). The coastline has a series of resistant rock outcrops, platforms and sandy beaches near the mouth of the lagoons.  The coastline is exposed because of the close proximity of the continental shelf, a strong coastal and wind action subjecting it to severe erosion.  The soils can be divided into four main groups: drift materials resulting from deposits by windblown erosion; alluvial and marine motted clays of comparatively recent origin derived from underlying shales; residual clays and gravels derived from weathered quartzites, gneiss and schist rocks, and lateritic sandy clay soils derived from weathered Accraian sandstone bedrock formations.

In many low lying poorly drained areas, pockets of alluvial ‘black cotton’ soils are found.  These soils have a heavy organic content, expand, and contract readily causing major problems with foundations and footings.  In some areas, lateritic soils are strongly acidic and when saturated are prone to attack concrete foundations causing honeycombing.  Near the foothills are the large areas of alluvial laterite gravels and sands.  Many of these deposits are being collected for constructional purposes.

Source: AbWMPPD 2018