President Urges MPs, MMDCEs to Develop Strong Bonds

By Rex Mainoo Yeboah

"It is imperative, regardless of our political, ethnic or religious affiliations that Members of Parliament, Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (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, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated.

Addressing a joint workshop of MPs and MMDCEs from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions at Tamale the weekend, he warned that the reverse will result in turf wars and a breakdown in relationship that will certainly retard the process of development.

To this end, the President urged MPs and MMDCEs to establish strong bonds of co-operation to engender productivity in their constituencies to better the lives of Ghanaians.

Since the advent of the Fourth Republic, he noted that Ghana had embarked on a path of systematic decentralization as the vehicle for development and therefore the synergy, between the two "main protagonists - MPs and MMDCEs, is a prerequisite for a successful journey".

President Akufo-Addo who was a three-term MP for Abuakwa South indicated that from his first-hand knowledge the relationship between MPs and MMDCEs always 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 emphasized adding that "the new paradigm for effective governance demands maximum co-operation between Chief Executives and MPs. The closer and more sincere will be the co-operation between these two principal actors, the greater and more extensive will be the development.

Government's vision of building a "Ghana Beyond Aid", President Akufo-Addo stressed can only be realized when the stakeholders, especially at the local level, partner to harness all the resources available to them efficiently for the benefit of their people.

On Government's flagship policies such as "Free Senior High School policy", "One District, One Factory", "One Village, One Dam", "Planting for Food and Jobs", "Cedi Equivalent of One million dollars per constituency per year" he reiterated that it would require maximum co-operation of 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.

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