No constituency will receive $1 million this year - Minister

Minister for Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson says no constituency in the country will receive the US1 million this year as widely claimed by the ruling government in 2016.

She said we will not disburse the US$1 million this year because even when the budget statement was been prepared, the Ministry did not have an office.

Even though the allocation was made, we did not receive all the allocation.

We got some money and we are using that for the work we currently doing.

But in 2018, we will receive the amount in full, Mavis Hawa Koomson said.

She said the Ministry is currently awaiting the assent of the president on the passed bill on the Development Authorities and when that is done, the bill will be bidding and we will work in collaboration with the authorities.

She said the Ministry will use the Development Authorities as the vehicle for the implementation of the GHc1 million for each constituency in the country.

The Minister in an exclusive interview with Rainbow Radio’s Kwabena Agyepong said, notwithstanding the non-existence of the authorities, the president who sees the initiative dear to his heart, ordered that we use transitional measures and we have established 10 member committee in each region making a total of 100 people, employed by the Ministry to do assessment in all the constituencies.

She said, ‘’So far we have done all the validation and seen the viable projects. However, government has its own priorities apart from that of the constituencies. These are toilets, water for all, one village one dam, warehouses for the planting for food and jobs.’’

According to her, by close of December, some of the constituencies will start constructing ultra-modern toilets, boreholes, the warehouses for the planting for food and jobs.

On the one-village-one dam she said the Ministry is currently conducting feasibility studies to see the areas suitable for the one-village-one-dam and by early 2018, we will start.

The money would not be shared among residents in the constituencies but we will use the money for development purposes, she stressed. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2016 promised to give each constituency in the country US$1 million each after assuming office.

This will be part of a proposed US$275 million allocation per year to tackle issues relating to infrastructural development and poverty alleviation in rural and deprived communities across the country. Vice President Dr. Mahamudu who was then vice presidential candidate explained that this would be part of the “Infrastructure for Poverty Alleviation Programme”, which will be established by a potential Nana Akufo-Addo government.

“Every constituency in Ghana, every year from this programme, will get the equivalent of US$1 million to spend on priority infrastructure. You can use this US$1 million a year to deal with the problems of the constituency in the rural and deprived areas. It is up to the local people to decide what their problems are and what to use that US$1 million for,” Dr. Bawumia said.