GOVT URGED TO TELL ITS SUCCESS STORY (PAGE 46, AUGUST 25, 2010)

THE Offinsohene, Nana Wiafe Akenten III, has called on the government to tell its success story to the Ghanaian people now, instead of waiting for election period.
He said the people were ready to hear what the government was doing to improve their lives but it appeared not much had been done in that respect.
Nana Akenten made the call at a meeting between the Offinso Traditional Council and the Offinso Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Victor Amponsah, at his palace at Offinso.
The meeting, held at the instance of the Offinsohene, was to enable the MCE to brief the council about development projects in the area.
Nana Akenten indicated that most often people tended to blame the government for failing to inform them of developments in the country.
“This tend to put the people in the dark giving room for all manner of speculations and allegations,” he said.
The Omanhene stated that it was not for nothing that the Constitution gave room for the President to appoint Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).
“You were appointed to carry government policies through and inform the people of what was going on in government,” he said.
Reacting to a statement by the MCE that the previous assembly left behind huge debts, which were being serviced by the current assembly, the Omanhene questioned why the assembly should award contracts knowing very well that it did not have the funds to pay for them.
He further raised questions about how the previous assembly used the Common Fund that accrued to the assembly.
“I think something went wrong,” he said.
Nana Akenten said Ghanaians had confidence in the ability of the government to undertake a lot of development projects in every part of the country.
“But it will be difficult for this to be done if there is no money in the coffers,” he stressed.
He, therefore, cautioned MMDCEs to be wary of the way they spent government funds.
In his briefing, Mr Amponsah said in spite of the challenges his administration faced, they had been able to undertake a number of development projects to better the lives of the people.
Among areas that considerable successes had been chalked were in education, health, roads and water supply.
The MCE indicated that the assembly would continue to work in the interest of the people by making sure that funds were judiciously utilised.
He welcomed the meeting with the traditional council, stressing that the law mandated the assembly to work in concert with the chiefs.