Akim Oda, July 14, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday said the government would not tolerate any metropolitan, municipal and district chef executive whose activities would lead to the division of their people.
This was contained in a speech read for him at the opening of the mid-year review meeting of regional ministers, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives.
Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, read the President's address at the three-day meeting that is being held under the theme "showing results, local implementation of national initiative."
President Kufuor said the Environmental Health Inspection Unit has been re-introduced in the assembly to help maintain good environmental practices at the local level.
He advised the executives to ensure that environmental health inspectors were used with circumspection and reminded them that any activity by the inspectors that would be interpreted to be harassment of the people would be counterproductive. The President called on the district political heads to use waste in their districts to generate energy and congratulated the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly for the initiative it has taken in that direction. He assured them that their poor service conditions was receiving attention.
Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, the Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, said despite the achievements of the government, a section of the public kept complaining and lambasting the government "for failing to attend to their plight." He told the executives to sharpen their marketing and publicity skills to make the people appreciate the dramatic improvement that is taking place in the country.
The minister called on people living in areas that have not been covered to bear with the government and assured that development would get to them in due course.
He said the ministry was working with cabinet to raise the district assembly's share of the Common Fund from five per cent to seven-and-half per cent.
The ministry is also pursuing the passage of the Municipal Finance Bill to enable municipal and metropolitan assemblies to raise financial resources for development projects. The President of the National Association of Local Governments (NALAG), Mr Kyei Bafuor, called for improvement in the working conditions of district chief executives to meet the challenges of their work.
He said at the end of their service to the nation, while end-of-service benefits of other political appointees were paid promptly, those for district chief executives were subjected to all forms of conditions and called for equal treatment for all appointees. Mr Bafuor appealed to the executive to put in place a mechanism to help eradicate the perceived corruption in the assemblies.
