MPs, MMDCEs turf battle hurting local governance - Bawumia

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has expressed concern about the occasional turf battle between Members of Parliament (MPs) and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMCEs) and said this has not been helpful to good local governance.

Although the conflict was an integral part of human life and inevitable part of the society, it should not be allowed to distract the nation’s development.

He was addressing a workshop organized for MPs and MMDCEs in Kumasi by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

“Enhancing leadership for good governance” was the theme chosen for the three-day programme.

The goal was to identify the sources of conflict between the parliamentarians and the district political heads and discuss ways to prevent these to help bring progress to the people.

Vice President Dr. Bawumia underlined the need for closer collaboration and good understanding to advance the cause of development at the local level.

“Let this meeting in Kumasi be remembered as the event where we renewed our togetherness to build for the common cause to strengthen our leadership role and to build a better Ghana through our local communities.

They should accept to work together to promote socio-economic development

“For the sake of prosperity and your individual legacies, please endeavour to work together in clarity, openness, trust, shared goals and vision with regular interactions”, he added.

He reminded them to ensure that there was no space for acrimony and discordance that put impediments in the way of good governance and negatively affected the forward march of the nation.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs served as a “bridge builder” between the Executive and the Legislative and therefore, there must be strong leadership and effective governance to promote development.

“Turf wars, relational complications and lack of coordination between MPs and MMCEs undermine leadership, distort focus, create disunity, and hamper progress at the local level”.

“That is not what we should wish for and, certainly, that is not what citizens’ demand of their leaders.

There is nothing exemplary about disunity and there can be no winners when all is said and done.”

Vice President Dr. Bawumia said the government was eager to get more resources to the districts and cited the decision to give One million dollars to each of the 275 constituencies through the Development Authorities to facilitate development.

The expectation was that there would be maximum co-operation between the MPs, MMCEs and officials of these Authorities to harness the resources of the nation for economic growth.

He reminded them of the critical roles they were required to play in the implementation of the government’s flagship programmes.

“We are highly committed to the vision of developing ‘Ghana beyond aid’ and this idea can only become a reality when the stakeholders at the grassroots level partner to harness resources available to them efficiently”, he stated.