DCE's advised to be wary of corrupt contractors

Tamale, Aug. 21, GNA - District Chief Executives in the Northern Region have been advised to be wary of contractors who give out gifts as bait to be awarded contracts.

Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, Northern Regional Minister, gave the advice on Saturday at a workshop organised for newly confirmed DCE's on the theme: "The role of DCE's in a decentralized local government system".

He urged the DCE's to make their dealings transparent and avoid accepting bribes from contractors.

Alhaji Boniface, who took the DCE's through leadership qualities and some management practices said the workshop was designed to give them an idea of the nature of work and to understand the operations of the District assemblies.

The Minister was of the view that the degree of leadership must be very high for any business to thrive, hence all DCE's must wield leadership qualities in order to effectively steer the affairs of their districts.

Alhaji Boniface told the DCE's that success was within the reach of everybody, however, if they did not exercise leadership skills they would lag in the performance of their responsibilities. He encouraged them to be visionaries, good forecasters and be analytical when faced with thorny issues adding, " don't go with falsehood and lies but make a conscious effort to always tell the truth".

The Minister also urged them to respect chiefs and work together with them for the betterment of their respective districts and not to use their position to take revenge on others. The DCE's were also taken through topics like financing of the assembly and the financial laws governing it as well as budget security.