O.B Amoah
The Deputy Minister for Local Government, O.B Amoah, has instructed all the 26 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern Region not to contribute GH¢5,000 each as being directed by the Northern Regional Coordinating Council.
O.B. Amoah, in an interview on Citi Fm, said Local Government Ministry has not authorized any payment by the 26 MMDAs in the region.
“As far as we are concerned, this is not sanctioned and nobody is authorized to pay anything towards the president’s visit. The Presidential Office will have their own arrangement when it comes to such trips. And I expect that the RCC should be able to know that this is not the situation where you should ask any district to make any contribution towards the president’s visit,” he said.
“It is unknown and not sanctioned… I don’t think it is the right thing to do. If for any situation the president visits a district and the district has to cater for some aspect of the visit, that should be well documented and authorized,” he added.
A document sighted by DAILY GUIDE said the total amount of GH¢130,000 will be used during the three-day visit of the President.
President Akufo-Addo is expected to embark on a three-day official visit to the three regions of the north from 6-8 October, 2017.
A letter to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) with reference number AC262/412/01/53, signed by Alhassan Issahaku, Chief Director, on behalf of the Regional Minister, directed all MMDCEs to raise GH¢5,000 each towards the visit of the president.
“His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana will undertake a three-day tour of the region from 6-8 October, 2017, the letter indicated.
“And in the bid to put together the required arrangements for a successful tour, each assembly is required to contribute an amount of Five Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢5,000) payable by Monday, 2nd October, 2017.”
Meanwhile, the Dean of the Northern Region MMDCEs caucus, Mohammed Hashim Abdullah, denied that the said contribution was meant to cater for the President’s entourage.
Mr. Abdullah disclosed that it was a unilateral decision taken at the end of the caucus meeting ahead of the President’s visit.
The Northern Regional Minister Salifu Saeed, in a press release said, “I wish to make it clear that the decision, which was arrived at by the MMDCEs themselves and based on precedent, has no official sanction”.
It further stated that the president has toured a number of regions since assuming office and all the trips had been funded from the budget of the Office of the President.
“I wish therefore to direct all MMDCEs in the Northern Region to disregard the contents of the earlier letter as circulated on social media.
Assemblies bearing part of the cost for presidential visits is not new.
Although the presidency has its own budgetary allocation, assemblies in all successive governments are often forced to bear part of such cost for the president’s trips, despite the huge financial challenges most of them are faced with, which hampers development.
From Eric Kombat, Tamale