President urges cooperation between MPs and MMDCEs
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Saturday urged legislators and Chief Executives to work together to improve the living standards of the Ghanaian people and build a progressive and prosperous nation.
He pointed out that the establishment of strong bonds of co-operation between Members of Parliament (MPs) and MMDCEs would help generate dignified and productive lives for the Ghanaian people.
Speaking at the a joint workshop of MPs and MMDCEs from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Region in Tamale, the President, said since the advent of the 4th Republic, Ghana had embarked on a path of systematic decentralization as the vehicle for development.
Synergy, therefore, between two of the main protagonists, i.e. MPs and MMDCEs, he added, was a prerequisite for a successful journey.
“It is imperative, regardless of our political, ethnic or religious affiliations that MPs and MMDCEs work together as a team, with the major objective of helping to improve the living standards of the Ghanaian people, and helping to build a progressive and prosperous nation.
“The reverse, i.e. turf wars and a breakdown in relationship, will certainly retard the process of development,” the President said.
With the urgent and pressing need to develop Ghana, President Akufo-Addo stressed “we cannot entertain distractions occasioned by intractable conflicts between our MPs and MMDCEs.”
He reiterated that the new paradigm of effective governance demanded maximum co-operation between Chief Executives and MPs, adding that, the closer and more sincere will be the co-operation between these two principal actors, the greater and more extensive will be the development.
President Akufo-Addo was emphatic that the Government’s vision of building a “Ghana Beyond Aid”, could only be realised when the stakeholders, especially at the local level, partnered to harness all the resources available to them efficiently for the benefit of their people.
Government’s flagship policies such as “Free Senior High School policy”, “One District, One Factory”, “One Village, One Dam”, “Planting for Food and Jobs”, “Cedi Equivalent of One million dollars per constituency per year”, he noted, required maximum co-operation of MPs and MMDCEs for their effective implementation.
“The policies have the capacity to transform local economies, and bring wealth, jobs, progress and prosperity to every part of the country, so that your constituencies and districts become places where people move to, and not from,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo, thus, appealed for inter-district and constituency collaboration, in finding innovative ways of dealing with the vexed issues of sanitation, environmental degradation, crime and unemployment.
“The two groups of you must help device new ways of increasing the share of Internally Generated Funds (IGF) of the Assemblies to augment what the Central Government is able to provide. Government commits to evolve policy and law to create an enabling environment to facilitate these efforts,” the President added.
Source: GNA