A 22 member U/W Regional Coordinating Council inaugurated in Wa

Wa, Aug. 7, GNA – A 22-member Upper West Regional Coordinating Council has been inaugurated in Wa, tasked to monitor, coordinate and evaluate the performance of district assemblies in the region.

The Council chaired by the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid is also to monitor the use of all monies allocated to the district assemblies, review and coordinate public services as well as perform such other functions as assigned to it by the Local Government Act 142.

Speaking at its inaugural ceremony, Mr Khalid acknowledged the challenges of underdevelopment ranging from low infrastructural development, low agricultural productivity, falling standards of education, widespread poverty and poor quality of health facing the region.

He tasked members of the council to show more commitment to improving on those conditions to enhance the development of the region.

Mr Khalid urged district assemblies, departments and agencies in the

region to play appropriate roles and support the council to develop policies and

programmes for the benefit of the people.
He said his administration had formed a “Regional Think

Tank Group” to start the process and urged district assemblies “to bring their

expertise to bear on the group”, to achieve the desired development goals.

In response to President John Atta Mill's directive for the auditing of district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies, Mr Khalid requested that

all chief executives in the assemblies should submit a detailed report on all

projects in their areas of operation to the council within a week.

“I expect the chief executives to visit the projects and have a physical auditing of them and tell the council its status and payments made up to date”, Mr Khalid said.

He expressed his regret that after the assessment made last year on the

performance and efficiency of assemblies in the region, only four out of the nine districts qualified to benefit from the Performance Grant of the District

Development Fund.
The beneficiary districts are Lawra, Sissala East, Wa East and Wa Municipal and would receive amounts up to US302,158.39 dollars while the districts which lost out would only get US22,000 dollars from the Capacity Development Fund, which is automatic for all districts.

Mr Khalid urged members of the council to work assiduously to resolve all

disputes, especially that of chieftaincy and land to sustain the peace in the

region.
Other members of the Council included the Nandom-Naa, Puoure Puobe

Chiir, Paramount Chief of the Nandom Traditional Area, the Dorimon Naa,

Gore II, President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, District Chief Executives and Presiding Members.

GNA