Minister tells MDCEs to reside and work in their districts or resign

Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, has directed all municipal and district chief executives (MDCEs) in the region to exhibit the principle of “leadership by example” by staying and working in their respective districts.

“If you are in-charge of a district, it behoves you to stay in that district and work. If you are not staying there, you are not worth being a DCE or MCE of that area,” he said.

“As a leader, you must lead by example, and you must live within your jurisdiction. If you cannot do that, please humbly write to the President through me that you don’t want your appointment so we can get a replacement.” 

Dr Salih gave the directive during the second meeting of the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council held at Jirapa, supported by UNICEF.

He was responding to concerns raised by Mr Saeed Abdul-Shakur, a Principal State Attorney, that staff of some districts resided in Wa and went to work in their districts daily.

He cited some staff of the Jirapa Municipality and Nadowli-Kaleo District as living in Wa and lined up at a bus-stop along the Wa-Nadowli road every day waiting for free means of transport to their offices.

“Anytime I drive by the bus stop, my heart gets broken by the fact that an average Upper Westner can’t live in Nadowli and work in Nadowli, they cannot live in Jirapa and work in Jirapa,” the Principal State Attorney queried.

“They want to live in Wa, and because their salary cannot take them to work every day from Wa, they now come and stand at a filling station waiting to be a gratuitous passenger to go to work, at what time will you get to work.”

He challenged the MDCEs to live up to the task of ensuring that all staff lived and worked within the districts, put systems in place to track their time of reporting to work and the necessary sanctions applied to recalcitrant staff.

Meanwhile, Dr Salih said he was happy most of the DCEs reported that they lived in the district and urged those outside their districts to relocate.

On education, the Regional Minister explained that the Government had supplied 136 motorbikes to all 11 district education directorates to facilitate monitoring and supervision.

Mr Razak Abdul-Korah, the Upper West Regional Director of Education, observed that the poor performance of the region in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) was a major challenge.

He attributed that to the failure of the pupils to take their studies seriously after registration because they thought no matter their grade, they would still get placement in a senior high school.

Mr Abdul-Korah, however, said the leadership of the Ghana Education Service was working to address that issue but called for all hands-on deck to tackle the challenge.

Naa Puowele Karbo III, the Paramount Chief of the Lawra Traditional Area, and the Vice President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, commended the Regional Minister and his Directors for organising the meeting, which was very informative.

Heads of Departments and Agencies, MDCEs and Coordinating Directors, Presiding Members, traditional leaders, Regional Security Council, and representatives of UNICEF, among others, attended the meeting.

Source: GNA