This is a brief profile of the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipal Assembly of which Elmina is the Capital, is presented here.
ESTABLISHMENT
The Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality was carved out of the Cape Coast Metropolis in 1988 in pursuance to LI 1857.
LOCATION AND SIZE
The Municipality is bounded on the South by the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Guinea), the East by the Cape Coast Metropolis, the North by the Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira District and the West by the Mpohor – Wassa East District. Perched between longitude 10 20’ West and 10 40’ West and latitude 50 05’ North 150 North the District covers an area of 372.45 kilometers square (919.95 square miles).
There are four paramouncies in the Municipality, these are:
Komenda with the paramount seat at Komenda
Edina with the Paramount seat at Elmina
Eguafo with the paramount seat at Eguafo
Abrem with the paramount seat at Abrem Berase
Vision
The vision of the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) Municipal Assembly is to become a model of transparent and participatory local governance institution in Ghana; where the quality local service delivery is the hallmark.
MISSION
To utilize available resources effectively and efficiently in order to promote a sustainable development by providing a strong leadership based on commitment to fiscal responsibility, quality services, openness, and active grassroots participation to ensure equitable development in all sectors of the municipality within the confines of good governance and security.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
According to the 2000 PHC, the District had a population of 112,435 which represented about 7.1 % of the central region’s total population. The 2010 PHC report gave the Municipal population at 144,705. The total population for Male is 69,665 and Female is 75,040 representing 48.14% and 51.86% respectively. Thirty-five percent of the population in the Municipality lives in urban centers; the Municipality has an average household size of 4. There are four major towns with respective population figures of over five thousand (5,000) people; these are Elmina, Komenda, Kissi and Agona Abrem. There are seven (7) other settlements with respective population figures of over two thousand, which can be described as sub-urban towns. The projected population of the KEEA Municipality for 2014 is 161,208 which is estimated to increase by 4,412 by 2015.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
The landscape of the Municipality is generally undulating dominated by batholiths. Along the coastal zone is a series of lagoons and wetlands, the largest of which include the Benya, Brenu, and Susu Lagoons. These lagoons support a vibrant salt industry in the Municipality.
The slopes and hills are steep in inland areas. In between the hills are valleys of various streams, which drain into the coastal lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean. These streams include the Hua and Anta in the west and the Udu and Suruwi in the east.
GEOLOGY AND SOILS
Mainly the Birimian rock type consisting of schist and granites as well as pegmatite underlies a large proportion of the district. On the slopes of the hills, the overburden soils are sandy clayey soils while the valleys have gravely sandy colluviums.
CLIMATE
The coastal areas of the municipality form part of the littoral anomalous zone of Ghana and experience a lower rainfall region compared with the interior locations. Temperatures are generally high. And so the variability in climate and vegetation is influenced more by rainfall than temperature. With double maxima, annual rainfall totals in coastal locations rages between 750 and 1,000m while in the lower interior areas, it ranges between 1200 and 1500mm.
The municipality is generally humid. Relative humidity in the mornings varies between 85% and 99%. In the afternoons however, this can decline to between 50-85%.
VEGETATION
The vegetation varies according to the rainfall pattern. In coastal areas the vegetation consists of shrubs of about 1.5m high, grasses and scattered trees. In the interior, secondary forest occur but human activities are fast depleting this forest base.
ADMINISTRATION
- ASSEMBLY
The Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipal Assembly is a fifty-four (54) member Assembly comprising thirty-seven (37) elected and seventeen (17) appointed members, a Chief Executive and one Member of Parliament. The Assembly comprises forty-six (46) males and eleven (8) females.
- SUB-STRUCTURE
The Assembly has six (6) Zonal Councils namely;
- Komenda Zonal Council
- Elmina Zonal Council
- Ntranoa Zonal Council
- Eguafo Zonal Council
- Ayensudo Zonal Council
- Kissi Zonal Council
- DECENTRALIZED DEPARTMENTS
With the exception of Urban roads, the Assembly has all the decentralized departments in place with other sub vented organizations and agencies.
THE MUNICIPAL ECONOMY- AGRIC, ROADS, EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND WATER AND SANITATION
The KEEA Municipality is dominated by the agricultural sector with fishing, and crop farming being the predominant activities. The service and the industrial sectors are the other supporting areas of the Municipal Economy. The agriculture sector employs about 85% (farming 54.5 fishing 10.9) of the economically active population, followed by services 21.9 (commerce 9% and others12.9%) and then Industry 12.7%. Tourism: Tourism is a sector that holds a lot of prospects for the municipality. However it cannot yet be counted as one of the main economic activity areas in terms of income. These economic activities mentioned need adequate infrastructure to be able to operate efficiently. However, this is not the situation presently; for instance, the fishing harbor is silted and polluted. The rate of investment is low even though there are several investment potentials to be tapped. This is an area the Municipality will have to work on, to improve upon its economic gains.
Occupation
The type of occupations of persons 15 years and older employed in the Municipality in 2010 are shown in Table 4.2. Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishing workers forms the largest occupation group within the municipality, employing 42.2 percent of all employed persons. The second largest group is service and sales workers (20.6%). Also, 18% of employed persons are engaged in crafts, and technicians altogether form 8 percent of employed persons.
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census.
INDUSTRY
The type of industry of all employed persons 15 years and older are shown in Table 4.3. Over four out of ten employed persons (42%) are in agriculture, forestry or fishing industry which constitutes the highest industry within the municipality. The proportion of males engaged in Agriculture, forestry and fishing is higher (51.8%) than that of females (34%) which in any case represent the highest among the major industries for both sexes. Also 16.7% of the employed population 15 years and older are in wholesale and retail, this includes 7.8% males and 23.9%. . Furthermore, 14.3% are in manufacturing and 4.5% in education. This means that there are more females engaged in wholesale and retail than males.
Source: Ghana Statistical Service, 2010 Population and Housing Census.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS:
A few financial institutions operate in the Municipality, these are:
- Commercial Banks (GCB, Kakum Rural Bank, Akatakyiman Rural Bank,GN Bank)
- Microfinance institutions (First National Savings and Loan Bank)
The financial institutions serve as the point of ‘borrowing’ and savings for the majority of the people who are employed in the private sector of the local economy. The need for credit facilities for business growth far exceeds the number of financial institutions available to businesses; therefore there is more room for potential financial operators to come in and investment.
COMMERCE AND SERVICES: Commercial activities cover trading, the buying of goods and selling of goods. This forms a very important part of the economic life of the people in the Municipality as it penetrates into the small villages in the Municipality in the form of peddling. The Services sector comprises of activities in the transport, catering and hospitality industry.
The Municipality is fairly accessible from other parts of the country and outside the country, especially the Southern portion. According to the Department of Feeder Roads the total road surface in the Municipality is 188 km. This is made up of 31 km trunk road and 156km feeder roads.
The Accra-Takoradi trans-national highway passes through the Municipality. This constitute the 31km length of the highway in the Municipality is the only asphalted road. In addition to this highway, 38km of the total length of feeder road is tarred. These include the Komenda-Junction to Komenda road, Elmina-Ankaful road the Brenu-Akyinim-Ayensudo road.
EDUCATION
Education undoubtedly is one of the fundamental tools towards socio-economic development. The progress of any society hinges on the affordability, accessibility, quality and capacity of the educational system. The depth and impact of the educational system is for example linked to the degree of personal and communal hygiene and therefore to public health. Similarly, education provides the capacity, tools and means for future employment and local economic development.
Certainly, education is considered the foremost important tool in poverty reduction in KEEA Municipality. There are a total of 299 schools in the municipality from the Pre School up to the Tertiary level under both public and private ownership.
The second cycle schools are made up of three (3) Senior Secondary Schools. One training college at Komenda serves as the only institution in that category.
Accommodation for both teachers and head teachers is a major problem in the Municipality. The textbooks situation in both the primary and junior secondary schools has improved considerably over the last year.
HEALTH CARE
Organization and Management of Health Services: Health services, which are a mix of both government and private institutions, are structured along the three-tier system of primary Health Care- a strategy for making health accessible to all. The levels are:
- Community Level (Level A): Services to the communities are delivered mainly through outreach programmes. However services of TBA’s Chemical Sellers, Traditional Healers and private clinics are available to community members. There are also Chemical Sellers, pharmacy shops as well as private clinics in the Municipality.
- Sub-district level (Level B): The Sub District Health care system revolves around facilities like health centers and rural clinics. A number of such facilities are located throughout the Municipality to serve the population.
- District (Level C): There is an urban health centre at Elmina and two specialist hospitals at Ankaful (Leprosarium and psychiatric hospitals), which also provides general services. The Central Regional Hospital and the University of Cape Coast Hospital both of which are located in cape coast are also available to residents in the Municipality.
The public Health Services at this level are co-ordinated by the Municipal Health Management Team (MHMT). It focuses on providing support to sub-district in disease prevention and control, health promotion and general education of the public on health. The quality and adequacy of staff has huge implications for the quality delivery of service for any institution
Most of the facilities are located in the Elmina area, which is the Municipal capital. Because of the relatively large land area of the Municipality, distances to health facilities are generally major problems. It is observed that most residents receive specialist and sometimes general medical care from Cape Coast. It would be appropriate to upgrade conditions at the Elmina Urban Health Centre (EUHC) to reduce the pressure on the Cape Coast health service.
Malaria is the top most disease in the Municipality and this call for improved environmental sanitation and waste management.
Households in KEEA rely on a mix of different service delivery models for their water supply. Three main models of water service delivery exist:
- Urban water supply, managed by Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL);
- Private sachet water producers who mostly use water from the GWCL network within the municipality, or brought into the municipality from Cape Coast
- Community-managed water supply, facilitated by Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) for rural communities and small towns
- Self-supply (quite limited) who construct their own wells for their household drinking purposes
Drainage of storm-water in KEEA has always taken place through natural drains. For decades, rain water could make use of the natural water systems to drain gradually through streams and wetlands. Water could also infiltrate into the groundwater system through the soil. Rapid urban development, however, has put pressure on the absorption capacity of the natural drainage system. Wetlands have been reclaimed for the development into residential areas. The construction of roads, while increasing the run off, also prevented water being carried over from one point to the next and reduced the permeability of the soil.
Households in KEEA MA can rely on a mix of different service delivery models for the management of their solid waste. Two types of formal service delivery models exist:
- Door to door collection by private service provides;
- Collection in communal skip containers.
A third mode is indiscriminate waste disposal in the form of burning, burying or illegal dumping.
The KEEA Assembly is estimated to generate about 82 tons/day of solid waste with an estimated generation rate of 0.5 kg/capita/day. This leads to an annual amount of 30.000 tonnes of solid waste. The major sources include households, hotels, markets and lorry packs, hospitals/clinics, schools, small to medium scale industries and other institutions.
To improve on tourism in the KEEA Municipality, there is the need for the cleaning up of the filth that was initially engulfing the Municipality. The challenges of solid and waste management are basically the main priority in the sector.
