Non-performing districts to be suspended from MCA

Savelugu, (N/R), Oct.4, GNA - Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Public Sector Reform said the continued participation in the Millennium Challenge Account was not guaranteed for any country.

He said Ghana's programme could be suspended or even stopped if, "we do not adhere to the terms of the compact" and warned that the MCA Board would suspend the programme from any district that was found to be non-performing.

Dr Nduom was speaking at the zonal launch of the MCA for Northern Ghana at Savelugu in the Savelugu/Nanton District on Wednesday. He said: "Ghana's programme must succeed. We want it to lead to visible increases in the level of prosperity... This must be the goal of everyone in this Region".

Dr Nduom, who is also the MCA Board Chairman, urged district assemblies and traditional authorities in the beneficiary communities to work effectively with the Millennium Development Authority to measure progress and encourage the people to take full advantage of the facility to improve their standard of living.
He called on Ghanaians to monitor the implementation of the Fund to ensure that it did not end up like other donor-funded programmes in the past that promised a lot but delivered little.
Dr Nduom said: "The MCA compact represents one of the important opportunities we have had since independence to transform the rural economy in Ghana and I, therefore, urge the beneficiary districts to manage the programme in a positive way to make a difference in the lives of the people."
In a speech read on behalf of Ms Pamela Bridgewater, the US Ambassador in Ghana, she said the hard work put in by the Government to enable Ghana to secure the grant was a testimony to its commitment to improving the quality of life of the people.
Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister, in his welcoming address, expressed the gratitude and appreciation of the people to the Government for selecting five districts in the Region to benefit from the MCA.
He said it was true that most farmers in the area were poor and lived below the poverty line due to the problems associated with farming.
He said it was for this reason that people in the Region saw the MCA as an innovation expected to help to eliminate the constraints facing agriculture in Ghana in general and the North in particular. The Regional Minister urged the people to embrace the programme as it was geared towards poverty alleviation and addressing the problems of subsistence farming.
Alhaji Idris said the Regional Coordinating Council would take up the responsibility to supervise and monitor the programme in the beneficiary districts to ensure its success.