Irene Naa Torshie Addo-Lartey
The 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, MMDCEs are up in arms against the Administrator of Common Fund, Irene Naa Torshie Addo-Lartey over the ways and manners she is handling the disbursements of the Common Fund meant for the Assemblies across the country.
The angry MMDCEs’ reaction follows a complaint by the Local Government Minister, Daniel Kwaku Botwe against Naa Torshie following a letter addressed to the President by the Minister detailing some of the activities which in the view of the minister are not in tune with Government strategy and affects the fortunes of the Government.
Mr. Dan Botwe, in the letter, draws the attention of the Administrator of the Common Fund to the fact that her discretionary utilization of the Common Fund without consultation and engagement with other government stakeholders is affecting effective Local Governance in the country.
Thereafter, the District Assemblies Common Fund Administrator, Irene Naa Torshie has since allegedly unleashed a series of media attacks on the Minister.
Due to the attacks on the Minister, to affirm their support behind the Minister for fighting in their interest the MMDCEs expressing their worries on this issue of Common Fund said it has been their biggest worry in the past 6 years but have had no one to fight their cause.
According to them, they complain of receiving only GHC250,000 per quarter from the common fund, and yet Naa Torshie allegedly sends a contractor from Accra to come to their districts with single projects worth GHC4 million.
The MMDCEs recount their anger with the Administrator with the level of disrespect she shows towards them in her engagements with them.
They claim, Naa Torshie has peddled falsehoods about the operations of the common fund and even sewn enmity between MMDCES and their party executives.
According to the MMDCEs in a memo, the Minister is advocating in the interest of the party and government as they are afraid the actions and inactions of the Administrator will hurt the government and party if not checked immediately.
Some alleged that the Common Fund Administrator prefers to send GHC250,000 to the assemblies and rather hold the rest of the money in Accra and decides how to utilize it.
They claimed ‘’She calls the MMDCEs and asks them to write and request for specific projects and then she will send a contractor to execute that project at a cost more than how much the assembly is receiving from the fund for the entire 4 years’’.
However, the MMDCEs have vowed to join their Minister in this advocacy in the next few days if things do not improve and are encouraging the Minister, Dan Botwe not to stop but continue to work in the interest of the Government and Party.
-BY Daniel Bampoe