The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has expressed regret that about GH¢310 million which was used by the Electoral Commission (EC) to prepare for the botched district assembly elections has been wasted.
In view of what had happened, he called on the authorities at the EC to do due diligence in the conduct of their activities to forestall wasteful expenditure.
He said it was unfortunate that the nation would have to again cough up huge sums of money to conduct the elections.
Opening the fourth Regional Ministers Conference at Elmina in the Central Region yesterday, Mr Amissah-Arthur asked the Attorney-General to liaise with the regional ministers to fashion out the possibility of extending the mandate of the assemblies in order not to create a vacuum.
The three-day conference, which is on the theme: “Working Together with the 7th District Assemblies for National Development”, also brought together district chief executives (DCEs) from the Central Region and members of the Central Regional House of Chiefs.
While expressing concern over the inability of the EC to conduct the district level polls following the Supreme Court ruling, Mr Amissah-Arthur asked the EC to re-strategise on how to manage such elections in the future to avoid financial waste.
IMF programme Touching on the government’s extended credit facility (ECF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Vice-President told the ministers that although the country’s infrastructure budget alone stood at $5 billion, which was way bigger than what was being sought from the IMF, the ECF assured investors of Ghana’s path to regaining economic stability.
He said under the programme, there was a commitment on the side of the government to ensure fiscal discipline, hence the consideration to re-prioritise statutory funds to prevent waste in the system.
He explained that the government was tightening all loopholes to ensure that the release of statutory funds actually addressed particular needs.
He, therefore, called on the regional ministers to, as a matter of priority, use the conference to deliberate on such issues in the interest of the people.
Working together Mr Amissah-Arthur used the occasion to call on the regional ministers and their deputies to work together to bring development to their areas.
While asking the regional ministers to endeavour to regularly delegate responsibilities to their deputies to prepare the latter for ministerial positions in the future, he decried the fractious relationship between the former Ashanti Regional Minister and his deputy that degenerated into confusion which necessitated their removal from office.
He entreated heads of institutions to accommodate their subordinates and vice versa to promote a harmonious working relationship.
Ministers A Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, in his address, said the conference offered a platform for the ministers to review their performance and also evaluate their monitoring of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs).
He asked them to involve chiefs in their deliberations, noting that whatever development projects they would be undertaking should be done in consultation with the traditional authorities.
In his welcoming address, the Central Regional Minister, Mr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, enumerated some ongoing development projects in the region, saying the government was committed to ensuring the completion of those projects.
He mentioned that work on the Komenda Sugar Factory and the Kotokuraba Market were ongoing, adding that plans were afoot to revive the Ayensu Starch Factory.
Mr Quansah said 82 out of the 192 projects in the region had been completed as of 2014, while the remaining were at various stages of completion.
The Vice-President later met with the members of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, during which the President of the house, Nana Kwebu Ewusie VII, briefed him on the activities of chiefs to bring development to the area.
The regional ministers donated 400 bags of cement towards the expansion work on the Central Regional House of Chiefs.
Mr Quansah also directed each DCE in the region to donate 200 bags of cement towards the project.
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