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| Bede Ziedeng |
The seemingly sheer lack of innovative skills by some
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives in the Northern Region of
Ghana, perhaps due to their inability to think outside the box, has over the
years dragged the progress of their Assemblies backwards despite the many
opportunities that surrounds them, the Northern Regional Minister thinks.
According to
Bede Aawotaazumo Ziedeng, it was important for Metropolitan, Municipal and District
Assemblies (MMDAs) to continuously remind themselves of their mandate to
mobilize resources to make life better for their people. “What the people
desire is progress and development and we should not take them for granted”, he
cautioned.
Speaking at a
meeting with newly appointed and outgoing MMDCEs/Presiding Officers as well as
some heads of government institutions in the health, education and agric sector
in the Region, Mr. Ziedeng said some of these Assemblies had over the years
relied solely on external sources of funding including District Assemblies
Common Fund, District Development Fund as well as other donor funding in order
to provide development projects for their people.
“It is important
for Assemblies to give utmost attention to the mobilization of their own
resources rather than solely relying on external sources. It is regrettable
that most Assemblies have virtually relegated their internally generated
revenue to the background of their activities and are only too quick to budget
for projects that rely on external sources”, the minister observed.
Mr. Ziedeng
disclosed that, in 2012 revenue generation in MMDAs in the region averaged 76.1
percent which was an increase of 17 percent from the previous year, adding that
some districts generated revenue as low as 17.21 percent of their target and
described that as unfortunate.
He charged the
MMDCEs to reverse the trend by revamping their locally generated revenue
structures citing property rate as one area that had not received the deserved
attention even though it was a major potential source of revenue for their
Assemblies.
The Northern
Regional Minister also observed that, land disputes in the region were
increasingly becoming rampant and if measures were not taken immediately to
stem the tide, the situation could jeopardize the peace of the region.
He appealed to
the various traditional authorities to take advantage of the establishment of
the customary lands secretariat under the Land Administration Project (LAP)
which has made provision for assistance to be extended to various skins
(traditional areas) to establish those secretariats to help define boundaries
and document them appropriately.
The success of
it, Mr. Ziedent noted, would certainly eliminate disputes over boundaries and
also streamline the management of land in the region. He called on the various
traditional authorities to take the opportunity provided by LAP to streamline
the management of lands in their jurisdictions.
He further
hinted on serious deforestation and illegal mining activities in the Nanumba
North, Bole and Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Districts which he said were increasingly
posing danger in those areas. He advised the respective Assemblies to take
charge of the development.
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