Heads of Departments, Agencies and Boards to loyal to government

Sekondi November 20 (Smith)-GNA-Miss Betty Bosomtwe-Sam, Deputy Western Regional Minister, on Friday asked heads of Departments, Agencies and Boards to stay loyal and committed to government to develop the country. Addressing a meeting of Regional Heads of Departments, Agencies and Boards at Sekondi, she said heads should not refuse to implement policies on grounds of inadequate resources at their outfits.

Miss Bosomtwe-Sam said they should eschew negative tendencies like backbiting, murmuring and mudslinging when directed to implement programmes and policies and be non-partisan in the performance of their duties. She said loyalty to government should be the guiding and cardinal principle of public and civil servants as they are paid by the government. Miss Bosomtwe-Sam said the policies and programmes of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were clearly spelt out in the party's manifesto and all heads should get copies and carefully study it to enable them to understand and effectively implement them.

They should also make judicious use of state funds and take good care of state properties under their care, she said.

Miss Bosomtwe-Sam noted that award of contracts for road construction during raining season accounted for poor state of roads in the region and called on planners to desist from the practice.

She said planners should ensure road and other contracts were executed as some contractors fail to go to site and undertake projects even paid the mobilization fee.

Miss Bosomtwe-Sam spoke of the high hopes of the youth in the region in securing jobs in the country's oil industry and pointed out that as all young people cannot be employed in the industry, they should start looking elsewhere for employment.

Miss Bosomtwe-Sam said the government was determined to succeed but if it fails, the heads would share some of the blame.

Mr. David Yaro, Chief Director of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), told the heads that they are agents of the government and should ensure transparency and impartiality in the implementation of policies. He said it is the policy of the government to create employment in the agriculture sector, create a strong economy for the creation of more jobs, invest in the people and increase its expenditure on infrastructure for the growth of the economy.

Mr. Thomas Bismark Boakye, Regional Coordinator of the National Road Safety Commission, announced that the commission would introduce speed governors and speed cameras next year to check overspeeding. He said the cameras would be installed at accident prone areas to send pictures of overspeeding vehicles and their numbers to call centres which would inform the nearest police station to arrest offending drivers. Mr. Boakye said the speed governors would ensure that drivers do not exceed the national speed limit of 80 kilometers for ordinary vehicles and 60 kilometres for trucks.

He said the target groups are commercial drivers who are killing more people than trucks.

Mr. Roger Vanderpuye, Zonal Officer of the Narcotic Control Board in-charge of the Western and Central Regions said the board had coordinated several raids, arrests and actions including the unravelling of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of some bags of sugar suspected to be carrying cocaine at the Takoradi Harbour.

Mr. Vanderpuye said the board had stepped up surveillance on the various narcotic hot spots in the region in collaboration with other agencies involved in the fight against narcotics. 20 Nov.09