Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Assembly
Since 2011, Government has directed all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) to prepare the fiscal year’s Composite Budget which integrates budgets of Departments under schedule 1 of the Local Government (Departments of District Assemblies). Commencement Instrument, 2009, L.I. 1961. This policy objective would upscale full implementation of fiscal decentralisation and ensure that the utilisation of all public resources at the local level takes place in an efficient, effective, transparent and accountable manner for improved service delivery.
Among others the District Composite Budgeting system would achieve the ff:
i. Ensure that public funds follow functions and give meaning to the transfer of staff from the Civil Service to the Local Government Service.
ii. Establish an effective integrated budgeting system which supports intended goals, expectation and performance of government.
iii. Deepen the uniform approach of planning, budgeting, financial reporting and auditing.
iv. Facilitate harmonised development and introduce fiscal prudence in the management of public funds at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies level.
The Composite Budget of the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Assembly (TNMA) for the 2016 Fiscal Year has been prepared from the 2016 Annual Action Plan which was culled from the District Medium Term Development Plan (DMTDP) 2014-2017 and aligned to the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA). The Composite Budget focuses on growth-oriented projects and programmes that will enable the Assembly achieve its vision through the strategies and activities that have been outlined in the Annual Action Plan of the Assembly. The Composite Budget for 2016 fiscal year projects a total resource envelope of GH¢ 20,889,420.63 both Internally Generated Fund (IGF) and Government of Ghana (GOG) Transfers.
Mission Statement
The Municipality exist to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants through the provision of effective and efficient socio-economic services in collaboration with other stakeholders.
Vision
The vision of Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Assembly is to become a world-class Municipality providing excellent socio-economic services for its inhabitants.
Background
With a total land area of 978.26 sq. Km., the Tarkwa – Nsuaem Municipality is one of the 22 administrative MMDAS (Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies) in the Western Region of Ghana. Established by Legislative Instrument L.I. 1886 in 2008 , it is located between latitude 4o5’ and longitude 5o5’ and shares boundaries with Prestea Huni-Valley district to the north, Nzema East Municipality to the west, Ahanta West District to the south and Mpohor District Assembly to the east.
Municipal Assembly Structure
The Assembly has a total of forty three (43) Assembly members. This is made up of thirty (30) elected members and thirteen (13) appointed ones. With about 438 communities, it consists of one (1) urban council and five (5) Zonal councils namely, Tarkwa urban council, Nsuaem zonal council, Nsuta zonal council, Simpa zonal council, Dompim zonal council and Benso zonal council.
According to the 2010 population and housing census, the total population of Tarkwa – Nsuaem Municipality is 90,477 which comprise 48.43% female and 51.57% male.
District Assembly Economy
About 32% of the entire active population is engaged in agricultural production whilst the remaining 68% find themselves in the area of commerce, private informal sector and hospitality industries.
The private informal sector is one emerging sector that is attracting quite a number of the population recently. This underlines the need to create an enabling environment to maximize its contribution to economic activity in the Municipality.
Economic Resources
Among the major economic resources are minerals and land. They include land for mining Gold Silica and Manganese. These resources are produced in large quantities and exported. In the aspect of agriculture, they include cultivation of major cash crops which are oil palm, rubber, cocoa, coffee, coco nut, sugar cane, cola nuts and other food crops such as rice, maize, yam, plantain, coco yam, vegetables. Livestock such as poultry, sheep, goat, pigs, cattle and fish are also some economic resources in the municipality which are produced in smaller quantities. In the area of forestry there exist such economic trees as wawa, odum and sapele among others. These economic resources are sometimes exported to earn foreign income.
Banking
In the area of banking, the Municipality can boast of about 16 commercial banks, 5 financial institutions and about 5 rural banks located in various communities.
The Commercial Banks include, Barclays Bank, Ghana Commercial Bank, SSB Bank, Ecobank, Inter-Continental Bank, Stanbic Bank, Zenith Bank and Cal Bank among others. There are other non-banking institutions like; Social Security and National Insurance Trust, State Insurance Corporation, Metropolitan Insurance Company, Gold Coast Securities and Consumer Credit Limited. Rural Banks and Credit Union Association (CUA) also operate in the Municipality.
Roads
The Municipality has a number of roads which are not in their best of condition but is being given the necessary attention. They include the Tarkwa – Bogoso road and the Tarkwa town roads. In spite of this there are other roads which are also in their best of condition. For instance, the Tarkwa –Takoradi road is 100% asphalt.
Education
In the 2012/2013 academic year, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality had a total of 62 Public Kindergartens, 65 Primary schools and 42 Junior High Schools at the Basic Education Level. It also had 3 Public Senior High Schools, 1 Vocational School and 1 Public University. Private schools in the Municipality were made up of 50 Kindergartens, 50 Primary Schools and 21 Junior High Schools. In addition, there are 2 Private Senior High Schools and 1 Private Vocational School. The Municipal was the proud recipient of the National best teacher award in Information Communication Technology (ICT) category and the first runner up in special education in the 2014 National Teachers Awards days.
Health
There are 28 health facilities in the Municipality. The Tarkwa Municipal hospital is the highest order facility while the Tarkwa Government Hospital is one of the oldest hospital in the country. In addition there are 27 health delivery facilities both public/private which have been located in the various sub-municipalities of Tarkwa Nsuaem.
The Doctor-patient ratio stands at 1:15754 while the Nurse-patient ratio is 1:243 with 274 nurses. Infant Mortality is 61/1000births and Child Mortality is 88/1000births. Maternal Mortality ratio is 305 and Malaria case fatality is 0.61.
Inadequate health facilities, insufficient number of health personnel and logistics for effective and efficient services are major issues confronting the Municipality. There are 22 Doctors in the Municipality.
The Municipality has a number of Traditional Birth Attendants who supervise delivery, give family planning services and health education. Traditional Healers and Traditional Medicine are gaining recognition.
Malaria is still the number one disease in the Municipality with 123,881 cases in 2012. The current prevalent rate of HIV and AIDS is 1.9%. Among the reasons accounting for the rate is the influx of people into the Municipality due to mining activities as well as settler farmers into the cultivation of cocoa, oil palm and rubber.