Gov’t soon to disburse GH¢42m for new assemblies
The Government has approved GH¢42 million for the construction of administrative blocks for all the newly 46 district assemblies created last year.
Dr Callistus Mahama, Head of the Local Government Service Secretariat (LGSS) who disclosed this, said the money would soon be released to the assemblies for the projects to begin before the end of 2013.
He was addressing staff and management of the Techiman North District, Techiman Municipal, Tain District and Banda District assemblies at separate meetings at Tuobodom, Techiman, Nsawkaw and Banda-Ahenkro in Brong-Ahafo Region at the weekend.
Accompanied by Dr Charles Kassey, Director of Research and Statistics at the LGSS, Dr Mahama was in a two-day familiarization visit to some selected districts and municipalities in the region.
Other districts and municipalities they visited included Sunyani Municipal, Asutifi North and Asutifi South.
Dr Mahama explained that the provision of befitting administrative blocks for the districts would propel them to establish and accommodate the 11 departments as mandated by the Legislative Instrument (LI 1961) to deepen the decentralization process.
He admitted that though as new assemblies, they were confronted with numerous challenges, the problem of infrastructure needed to be addressed immediately to enable the departments to work effectively for speedy development.
Dr Mahama said aside the District Assembly Common Fund; there was the need for the assemblies especially the new ones to intensify their revenue mobilization drive, as the quantum of the common fund depended on the revenue they could generate internally.
He advised all employees of the LGSS to obtain the newly designed conditions and scheme of service of the secretariat and study them critically for their own benefit.
Dr Mahama hinted that the Functional Organisation Assessment Tool (FOAT), which qualified the assemblies to access the District Development Fund and the Urban Development Fund, was currently an index to determine the removal of office Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).
He stressed that MMDCEs, who continued to excel in the FOAT exercise, were always likely to maintain their positions while those who failed also stood the chance to lose their jobs.
Mr Abdul Rufai Ibrahim, Techiman North District Coordinating Director, said the new district had only one vehicle and appealed for more vehicles.
He said the district had acquired 50 acres of land to be used as a land fill site and had also completed the process to acquire additional plot to construct the assembly’s administrative.
At Banda-Ahenkro, Mr Joseph Alexander Bonsu, Banda District Chief Executive, explained that though infant, the assembly was leaving no stone unturned in its drive to create conducive working environment to motivate staff to perform their duties more efficiently and effectively.
He said the Assembly had constructed and furnished five bedroom bungalow for the chief executive, four bedroom for the coordinating director, mechanised three boreholes and constructed a semi-detached four bedroom bungalow for some senior staff.
Source: GNA