President Akufo-Addo with the MPs and MMDCEs
President Akufo-Addo says the establishment of strong bonds of cooperation between Members of Parliament (MPs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) will help generate dignified and productive lives for the Ghanaian people.
According to President Akufo-Addo, since the advent of the 4th Republic, Ghana has embarked on a path of systematic decentralization as the vehicle for development.
Synergy between two of the main protagonists, i.e. MPs and MMDCEs, is a prerequisite for a successful journey, he added.
“It’s imperative, regardless of our political, ethnic or religious affiliations, that MPs and MMDCEs work together as a team, with the major objective of helping to improve the living standards of the Ghanaian people, and helping to build a progressive and prosperous nation. The reverse, i.e. turf wars and a breakdown in relationship, will certainly retard the process of development,” the President said.
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Saturday when he addressed a joint workshop of MPs and MMDCEs from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.
President Akufo-Addo, a former three-term MP for Abuakwa South, indicated that he has first-hand knowledge of the relationship, harmonious or otherwise, between MPs and MMDCEs and its impact on the wellbeing of the citizenry.
“Given that we have an urgent, pressing need to develop Ghana, we cannot entertain distractions occasioned by intractable conflicts between our MPs and MMDCEs,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo reiterated that the new paradigm of effective governance demands maximum cooperation between Chief Executives and MPs, adding that the closer and more sincere the cooperation between these two principal actors will be, the greater and more extensive will be the development.
Government’s vision of building a “Ghana Beyond Aid,” he stressed, can only be realised when the stakeholders, especially at the local level, partner to harness all the resources available to them efficiently for the benefit of their people.
The president disclosed that government’s flagship policies such as Free Senior High School, One District, One Factory, One Village, One Dam, Planting for Food and Jobs, One million dollars, per constituency per year, require maximum cooperation between MPs and MMDCEs for their effective implementation.
“The policies have the capacity to transform local economies, and bring wealth, jobs, progress and prosperity to every part of the country, so that your constituencies and districts become places where people move to and not from,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo appealed for inter-district and constituency collaboration in finding innovative ways of dealing with the vexed issues of sanitation, environmental degradation, crime and unemployment.
“The two groups of you must help device new ways of increasing the share of Internally Generated Funds (IGF) of the Assemblies to augment what the Central Government is able to provide. Government commits to evolve policy and law to create an enabling environment to facilitate these efforts,” President Akufo-Addo added.