PREZ WARNS MMDCEs (SPREAD, APRIL 21, 2010)

THE President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has sounded a strong warning to metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) that they will be made to face the consequences if they misuse state resources for their personal benefit.
At a meeting with MMDCEs in the Northern Region in Tamale on Monday night, President Mills said, “Nobody will be spared if there is misuse of resources because they belong to the people and must be used for the benefit of the people.”
The President, who is on a three-day tour of the region, convened the meeting to map out strategies for the accelerated development of the region.
President Mills said to ensure that MMDCEs delivered on their mandate, their performance would now be appraised periodically to assess their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the challenges facing them.
The meeting, attended by all the 20 MMDCEs in the region, was held behind closed doors and it was believed to have centred on job creation and the judicious use of national resources in the various districts.
Briefing journalists at the end of the meeting, the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Koku Anyidoho, said the President reminded the MMDCEs that his administration had declared this year an ‘Action Year’ and the need to work towards the realisation of the ‘better Ghana’ agenda.
He said the normal feature of the President was to hold discussions with the chief executives of any region he visited to remind them of the government’s agenda for development.
He said the MMDCEs were reminded that they would be appraised on their performance to see where they had excelled and areas where they faced challenges in order to carve the way forward in achieving the goals contained in the government’s agenda.
He further explained that at the recent Cabinet retreat in Accra, the President stressed that the priority of his government was to ensure the expansion of the economy to create more jobs for Ghanaians.
Mr Anyidoho said the President, therefore, urged the MMDCEs to work assiduously to realise those objectives and challenged them to come up with innovative ways of generating revenue in their respective areas to complement the government’s efforts.