Once upon a time, chiefs ruled communities in Ghana. They were the final authorities and enacted laws that governed the people. Over time, the political governance system became institutionalized taking over the traditional rule. None the less, chiefs still wield powers within the communal structures such that to ensure a sustainable social change in a community, they are consulted, and their support integrated.
Kanvilli is a peri-urban community located within the Sanerigu District of the Northern region. The main language spoken is Dagbani. Economically, community members are predominately farmers and grow crops such as groundnut, maize, and millet. Others engage in petty trading of these farm produce and other stuff. Kanvilli can boast of a health center and a basic school. The majority of community members practice the Islamic religion.
Kanvilli, geographically is close to Tamale, the regional capital of the Northern region and one would have taught that by its proximity, it would have benefited a lot from central government, unfortunately, that is not the case. The community until the sponsored project of Youth Advocacy on Rights and Opportunities (YARO) titled Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Northern Ghana-PROTANG had never had a town hall meeting with their district assembly (DA) to table their concerns. Ha! I am just as surprised as you are but it gets better, hahaha… this break in communication between the DA and the community was discovered during the inception meeting held at the community to introduce the project to them and seek their cooperation.
YARO quickly consulted the DA to ascertain if the allegations brought against it by the community was true. The DA confirmed and the first face-to-face meeting between the community of Kanvilli and the Sanerigu District Assembly was held in the community. During the town hall meeting, the community-made the DA aware of some of their challenges which included, poor sanitation, a poor drainage system, and general apathy towards the payment of taxes to the assembly.
Magadiah of the community said, “No plan for the community building, infrastructure (poor drainage system”. The DA apologized for their non-visit to the community and proceeded to educate the community on the reasons to pay taxes as these would enable the DA to carry out developmental projects within the district and their community. The community and assembly smoked the peace pipe to support each other.
During our visit to Kanvilli, the community testified that the assembly had come to clear huge refuse damp that was causing havoc and had provided a community dustbin for them. Ahmed Danaa – “After the project meeting. Assembly cleared a lot of refuse from our community”. Yey!… this ray of light provided by the assembly gives the people of Kanvilli hope that the rest of their issues would be resolved but there is a catch.
Kanvilli, after being sensitized is concerned that the DA is not updating and providing feedback to them. Mr. Sulemana Naporo an elder in the community that “since the assembly visit to the community for the first time, we had not received any feedback and been hoping for another visit”. This was buttressed by Abdul Manan “after the collection of the refuse, there was the need for community feedback as to how to maintain the dustbin to ensure our sanitation continued to be improved or the number of times the rubbish would be collected”.
There is more work to be done by YARO and the DA to sustain the gains especially by providing the feedback loop to ensure effective communication between the community and the DA. This is confirmed by Kanvilli’s willingness to pay their taxes if the assembly involves their chiefs and elders as they pay homage to them. Abdul Manan “members of the accountability committee should be consulting the chiefs on how they can support the assembly to collect the taxes as the chiefs provided spaces along the road for the various business to site their shops”.
Group photo of participants at the event
