New Contracts Put On Hold

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has directed acting metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives not to award new contracts in their districts until new nominations are made.

They have, however, been asked to continue implementing ongoing projects in their various districts, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr. Kofi Poku-Adusei, says.

In an interview in Accra on Tuesday Mr. Poku-Adusei says it is improper for any district chief executive (DCE) to initiate new projects in his/her acting capacity.

He has urged DCEs to hold on with anything they deemed a major decision to be taken be it in any form until substantive DCEs were appointed.

Mr. Poku-Adusei mentioned the construction of schools, clinics and markets as some of projects, which should not be initiated.

President J. A. Kufuor is expected to make new nominations to the position of the district chief executives (DCEs) for the 138 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies by the middle of this month.

According to Mr. Poku-Adusei, the nominations, which will include those for the 28 newly created districts, cannot be made at the specified time because he was engaged in international assignments.

He was confident that the appointments would be made in the shortest possible time but did not specify the exact date.

To buttress his point, Mr. Poku-Adusei said, “The appointment of the DCEs is on the President's topmost priority.”

At the moment, the various regional ministers were acting as DCEs in the newly created districts which had been operational since last year.

To help the new districts to take off, the government has provided office buildings, bungalows for DCEs and apartments for staff.