Government asked to monitor DCEs

Accra, Sept. 5, GNA - African Peace Network (APNET), a non-governmental organisation, on Friday urged the government to put in place a machinery to monitor District Chief Executives and other government officials in district capitals.

APNET, which aims at fostering peace and development, said the DCEs were representatives of government, but they must be responsible to the people whom they serve.

It welcomed the establishment of the Office of Accountability by President John Agyekum Kufuor but noted that it was important that the office stopped government officials from committing crimes, instead of the present mandate of just reprimanding them.

A statement signed in Accra by Mr Alex Adu Appiah, Executive Director of APNET, said numerous activities went on in the district and regional capitals, which must attract attention.

"Yet they usually go unnoticed until they are published by the media or until they burst in our face in a rather uncomfortable manner." Mr Appiah said APNET was aware of the numerous problems facing rural communities and it was a fact that they could not be addressed in a day.

"But we must all ensure that they are done well not by government alone, but by NGOs, civil society and other stakeholders in and outside the various communities in the country."

He commended the Volta Region branch of APNET, which he had just inaugurated, for their commitment to developing the culture of accountability, self-help and promoting the objective of a crime-free society.