The Chamber for Local Governance (ChaLoG) has expressed concern about the delay in the nomination of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) for the 260 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country.
It said the delay had had and continued to have intended and unintended consequences on the smooth administration of the various MMDAs.
A statement issued in Accra and signed by its President, Dr Richard Fiadomor, recalled that soon after he was sworn into office, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo caused the Chief of Staff to direct all MMDCEs to continue to remain at post but were expressly warned not to take any major financial decision nor award any contracts until new MMDCEs were nominated and subsequently confirmed by two-thirds majority of assembly members present during voting.
“As a result of this directive, all the MMDAs across the country have not undertaken any new projects. They continue to collect property rates, business operating permits, markets and lorry tolls from rate payers, yet no capital projects are being undertaken by the Assemblies seven months into the year 2021,” it said.
DACF
It said the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), which is meant to support the MMDAs to undertake development projects, had also not been released to the MMDAs this year.
It said ChaLoG found the delay in nominating the MMDCEs as sign of the non prioritisation and the seeming lack of interest in the proper functionality of the Local Governance Structures in this country.
The statement, therefore, called on the President to urgently come to terms with the negative impact the delay in nominating MMDCEs was having on the smooth administration of the MMDAs.
Source: graphiconline.com