President John Agyekum Kufuor has warned Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) in the country to be extra vigilant in discharging their duties.
According to him, there was the need for them to exhibit fairness in the distribution of resources, dissemination of information, managing infrastructural development as well as ensuring peace in their localities to create peaceful environment.
“You must guard against being perceived as belonging to one side or the other in any conflict situation,” he stressed.
President Kufuor gave the warning in a speech read for him at the 2008 mid-year review meeting for MMDCEs of the southern sector at Elmina in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality of the Central Region on Friday.
It was on the theme “Local Level Development Through Performance Assessment, Partnerships and Productivity”.
The meeting afforded the Chief Executives the opportunity to take stock of their activities for the first half of this year.
He emphasized the need for assemblies to live up to expectation by delivering their functions and meeting their targets in a timely, equitable and adequate manner.
President Kufuor revealed that measures were being put in place to ensure functioning internal audit units at the district assemblies to help in promoting effective transparency.
He therefore charged assemblies to recognize and engage potential partners from the private, public and non-governmental sectors in their quest to attain proper development.
He said since the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government came to office in the year 2001, significant efforts had been made in ensuring that real self-determination was transferred to district levels with in a coherent national framework.
He hoped the introduction of the Functional Organization Assessment Tool (FOAT), a mechanism to assess the performance of assemblies, improve productivity and stimulate effectiveness, would yield the needed results.
The Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, attributed the low revenue generation of most assemblies to lack of motivation and competent staff in revenue mobilization, resulting in numerous application to the Ministry for funds to undertake developmental priorities of the assemblies.
Mr. Adjei-Darko stressed the need for the assemblies to apply innovative ways of mobilizing their internal resources to augment whatever they would receive from the government.
“If we effectively exploit our revenue sources, it would enhance our ability to become financially autonomous and I think that is what all assemblies should aspire to achieve.”
He disclosed that about 50 out of the 138 MMDAs that were assessed on FOAT would be able to access the District Development Fund this year.
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