73 Ex-DCEs to Be Put Before Court

The Attorney-General's Department is processing cases of 73 ex-District Chief Executives (DCE's) for court, following adverse findings made against them during the special audit exercise involving all 110 districts last year.

Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development made this known when he interacted with a cross-section of residents of Garu in the Bawku East District at the weekend.

He said 37 out of the 110 district assemblies came out clean at the end of the audit exercise.

Quoting sub-section five, section 17 of Act 584 (Audit Service Act), the Minister explained that ex-DCEs found guilty of misappropriating assembly funds would automatically, forfeit their ex-gratia awards.

"You cannot expect any payment from government when you are already indebted to the nation," he pointed out. He said all the processes would be followed to retrieve funds embezzled in the districts.

Mr Wiredu said such action would serve as a warning to the present DCEs "We did not come to power to enrich ourselves but to serve our nation."

He said government would strictly monitor all money allocated to the rural areas for development projects to ensure that it does not end up in the pockets of individuals.

The Minister observed that Ghana is not a poor country and that life could be much better if people placed in positions of trust handled public funds with honesty.

The Minister said in recognition of the importance of the decentralisation programme, the government has decided to create 10 new district assemblies in the country.

Two of the new districts have been approved for the Upper East Region, one at Garu-Tampane and the other in the Talensi-Nabdam area.

Mr Wiredu said the smooth functioning of every district assembly is vital to the success of the government's decentralization programme.

He said District Assemblies constitute "government" at the local level, and in areas where those structures are not firmly established, development would certainly be impeded.

Mr Wiredu said alongside these new developments, government is also pumping large sums of money to the districts for poverty reduction.

He said the government had recently transferred one billion cedis each to all the 110 districts under the HIPC Fund, while 700 million cedis has also been allocated to each district assembly for poverty alleviation.

Another 500 million cedis has been transferred to the bank accounts of each assembly from the Common Fund.

Mr Wiredu said the membership of Unit Committees would be reduced from 15 to seven to make the committees function more effectively.

He reminded assembly members in the Bawku District of their duty to those who elected them to office, and urged them particularly to work at getting a substantive DCE and Presiding Member to facilitate the area's development.

Also present at the forum was the Independent Member of Parliament for Garu-Tempane, Mr Joseph Akudibilla and Mr Abdul-Rahman Guman, the Regional Minister's Special Representative for Bawku East District.