The founding Chief Executive Officer of Social Enterprise Development Foundation of West Africa (SEND West Africa), Siapha Kamara, has said Ghanaians must exercise their responsibilities in order to hold the government accountable.
He said acts including payment of taxes and exercising civic responsibilities must first be practiced by citizens as a priority in order to make the government responsible.
Mr. Kamara noted that demanding accountability by citizens, is a civic duty which must not be ignored.
Speaking at the 20th anniversary of SEND West Africa, on the theme ‘20 Years of Empowering Good Governance and Transforming Lives: A Ghana Development Success Story’, he explained it was important for citizens to collaborate with government to build a better country.
“Some of such collaborations could include abiding by the rules and regulations and cooperating with national authorities in order to enhance good governance and transform the lot of citizens,” he maintained.
That he said also include tasking government and public officials to ensure that national policies are in alignment with citizen’s interest.
“Ghanaians must, at all times, insist that government officials who misapply public funds are held accountable. That is also part of being responsible,” he added.
SEND West Africa was founded in Ghana in 1998. The organization went ahead to establish country programmes in Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2004.
SEND Ghana has mentored SEND Liberia and Sierra Leone in accountability, transparency, equity and participation practices over the years, and all three nationally recognized organizations have significantly improved the economic development and governance of their respective countries.
It has advocated national participation in issues that bothers on development and has been effective in holding government accountable in several sectors of the economy from finance, education, health and many others.
The non-governmental organisation is celebrating 20 years of its exceptional contributions to poverty reduction and the promoting of good governance practices.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe
