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The Shama District Assembly with Shama as its capital was established in 2007 by Legislative Instrument (LI 1882) was one of the twenty-two (22) Administrative Authorities in the Western Region. The District was carved out of the then Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly and was officially inaugurated in March, 2008.

The Assembly has a membership of 27 made up of seventeen (17) elected Members, eight (8)appointees, the District Chief Executive and a Member of Parliament. In line with the 1992 Constitution and Act 462 of 1993 the Assembly has the following Sub-District Structures;
Shama Area Council, Aboadze-Abuesi Area Council, Inchaban Area Council, Shama Junction Area Council, Beposo- Supomu Dunkwa Area Council; and Assorku-Essaman Area Council Unit Committee [(eighty-five) (85)]

Location and Size
The Shama District is bordered to the west by the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Area to the east by the Komenda – Edina – Eguafo – Abrem District, to the north by the Wassa East District and to the south by the Gulf of Guinea. The District covers an area of 215 square kilometers. The West Africa Highway (the N1) from Aflao to Elubo traverses the District; making it the gateway to the Western from the Greater Accra and to the Central Region from any other part of the Western Region.

District Population
The population of the Shama District according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census stood at 83, 605 with females constituting about 44, 143 representing about 52.80% of the population whiles the male population stands at about 39, 462 representing about 47.20%.

Shama district was a model district in Ghana between 2009 and 2011. It was the first district in Ghana to successfully come out with a spatial development plan with the help of LOGODEP. As young district inaugurated in March, 2008, the district embarked on rigorous infrastructure development to bring development to the people in the district. Two years (2009-2011) after the inauguration the district could boost of a district police station, post office, fire service, district assembly bungalow, numerous education infrastructure and a market at Shama junction which is a source of revenue to the assembly.

Good governance and accountability was at its peak as opinion leaders like chiefs, assembly members, unit committee members, religious leaders and other groups like fishermen/fishmongers, market women, carpenters, masons, hair dressers etc were involved in the community needs assessment and the development of the medium term development plans of the assembly. Periodically the assembly held social accountability sessions where the than DCE and the technocrats accounted to the people what they were able to generate as revenue in the year under review and how the money was spent under the assembly’s motto “working together, rising together”.
These made Shama district, a district of interest to me as a development practitioner and a liberal democrat because the leadership then gave true meaning to participatory development and local governance.

However, a petition written and signed by nine (9) out of the seventeen (17) elected assembly members to the local government minister last year seeking the removal of the DCE Hon. Enoch .K. Appiah over corruption and non performance coupled with the recent Centre for Democratic Development Report on the performance of district assemblies in Ghana which ranked the Shama district 13th in the western region and 116th in Ghana formed the basis of my research.

I interacted with opinion leaders like chiefs, assembly members, head teachers, technocrats at the district assembly, youth groups, market women, fishermen/ fishmongers, NDC activists in Shama, Abuesi, Aboadze, Inchaban and Beposo to ascertain their views on the CDD report and how they rate the performance of the DCE and the Shama district assembly in the areas of health, basic education, water and sanitation and good governance.

Majority of the people I interacted with complained bitterly about the inadequate health infrastructure in the district thereby putting a lot of pressure on Shama Health Post, Benedict Hospital and the VRA Hospital at Aboadze. They however expressed their happiness about the government’s continuation of the Shama District Hospital which was started in 2004.

Water situation in the district is not a major problem according to most of the people I interacted with, except residents of Aboadze which the hometown of the DCE who complained bitterly about inadequate supply of portable water and see the DCE and the MP as failing to provide this basic need to the people.

Basic Education Certificate Examination records available in the district show that the district recorded 56% pass rate in the BECE exams in 2012 and this improved to 72% in 2013 and reduced to 54% in 2014. In my curiosity to find out from the education managers in the district why the pass rate in 2013 was not sustained, they explained that improvement in the BECE pass rate in 2012 and 2013 where largely due to the sound educational policies put in place by a former Shama district director of education Miss Florence Inkoom and a STAR-Ghana sponsored programme by a local NGO by name Integrated Action of Development Initiatives (IADI) which ended in 2013.
According to them, friction between the DCE and the education director because of the autocratic nature of the DCE resulted in the transfer of Miss Inkoom to the Gomoa district of the central region.
Her successor, Madam Esther Bossman Armah also suffered the same faith and left after one year. This according to some workers at the education directorate and some head teachers affected the quality of education delivery as the current acting director of education is the substantive Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Director of education and has no time for the district.
The people also criticized the DCE for the collapse of a once supportive district assembly scholarship scheme which provided financial assistance to the poor but needy student in the district. According to them, the district assembly for the past two years does not award scholarship to the people and the only scholarships available to the people are scholarship from Essemaman Development Association (district development group), Lower Pra Rural Bank scholarship and West Africa Gas Pipeline scholarship.

Waste management and sanitation issue in Shama district is very appalling. At Shama Junction which is about 4km to Shama the district capital there is huge refuse dump on your left hand close to the road which is an eyesore. At a community called Nkwanta Kesedo which is about two minutes drive from Shama Junction there is similar situation.
On your way to Abuesi which is the hometown of the member of parliament of Shama Hon. Kodwo Essilfie there is another refuse dump on the road side which is very close to a market in the community. There is therefore enough evidence to show that Shama district assembly has failed woefully in this criterion.

As started earlier, as a development practitioner, I was hugely impressed by the level of good governance in Shama district assembly especially 2009 and 2010 but I was hugely disappointed about how this valuable factor in our local governance has deteriorated.
The DCE's relationship with the majority of the assembly members has deteriorated beyond repairs and this has adversely affected the progress of Shama district assembly. This strain relationship based on my interactions is as a result of a petition written by some assembly members asking the president to dismiss the DCE for non performance and corruption.

This move by the DCE angered the assembly members who made an attempt to pass a vote of no confidence in him but the presiding member of Shama district assembly who is also NDC constituency chairman intervened to calm the assembly members.

Some assembly members even claim that the DCE has sponsored some people to contest them in the district level elections. The fade between the DCE and the majority of the assembly members to a very large extent has militated against the development of the district according to the Shama Traditional Council including the acting paramount chief of shama traditional area.

My interactions with fishermen and fishmongers in Shama, Abuesi and Aboadze showed a great deal of hatred towards the DCE as the people complained bitterly about his inability to stop the hoarding of the premix fuel by some landing beach committee members. The fishermen expect the DCE to give a directive that will see to the equitable distribution of the premix fuel to the fishermen.

Some NDC branch and constituency executives I interacted with see the DCE as a total failure and any attempt to prolong his stay in office beyond May, 2015 when his four year term ends will be fiercely resisted within the rank and file of the party. This situation is reechoed by some assembly members.

The leadership of Shama District Youth Coalition also has their qualms with the chief executive and the technocrats at the assembly. They raised a number of financial malpractices which according to them came to light during the 2012 and 2013 auditor’s report which the assembly failed to address properly and are of the view that the district is having a leadership crisis.

In conclusion, my engagement with the people Shama clearly explains why a once model district in the western region, which was the envy of many is fast declining in both qualitative and quantitative measures of development as shown by the district’s position in the CDD rankings as a result of bad leadership. This is the sorry state of Shama District Assembly.