World Vision Ghana, as part of it’s EU LEAN project, has conducted the project’s maiden elections for the Landscape Management Board (LMB) executive council in the West Gonja municipality.
The event which was held on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 in Damongo is aimed to establish a community-based natural resource governance structure in the savannah landscape.
Mr. Joseph Edwin Yelkabong, the Project Manager of World Vision Ghana EU LEAN Project, explained that the approach serves as the primary decision-making body responsible for managing, monitoring, and controlling forest access in production areas within the district and surrounding forest reserves.
He stated that, Under the World Vision EU LEAN Project, a Landscape Management Board (LMB) was established as a governance model, involving key stakeholders from the municipal.
The “Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation” (LEAN) Project, funded by the European Union, contributes to the national efforts of biodiversity conservation, enhances the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, builds climate change resilience, and reduces emissions from land use changes in Ghana’s savannah, high forest, and transition zones.
According to him, the LMB platform collaborates with stakeholders to coordinate and align their activities, policies and investments, all aimed at safeguarding landscapes and the remaining forests in the savannah region.
The primary objective of these elections he said, was to select executive council members to lead the West Gonja LMB council for the next two years.
The existing interim executives, including Alhaji Sakara Ronnie Asumah, Iddrisu Sumani, Tahiru Habib, Akunkwanab Rosina, Dari Osman Thomas and Mahama A. Hakim who were initially appointed at the project’s inception, ran unopposed and were endorsed by the beneficiary community Reps through a balloting process.
These executives will continue their roles as Chairman, General Secretary, Organizer, Financial Secretary, Treasurer, and Assistant Secretary respectively.
However, Mr. Iddrisu Abdul Rahman, contested by Akalbire George secured a significant majority of votes for the position of Vice Chairman of the West Gonja LMB executive council.
The elections were overseen by officials from the West Gonja Municipal office of the Electoral Commission of Ghana.
Source: Padfm.com.gh/Kumatey Gorden/0243531604
