Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has reiterated what most decent Ghanaians see as a profound demand on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to be business conscious as the grassroots political representatives of the ruling government.
The royal call, which received very wide coverage for its worth, highlights how ordinary citizens are getting the drift about the crying need for these appointees on the ground to impact development.
As we would recall, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made a similar call in his address to the MMDCEs during the recent orientation held to usher them into office. That was after they had gone through fire to secure the positions the President had conferred on them as agents of his vision and development initiatives.
Yesterday
When we began appointing local government authority chief executives in the days of Jerry John Rawlings, they were visible, in most cases, only when the President was touring a district and region, and they had to organise the crowd and logistics as well as chiefs and the media in generating political fanfare.
Despite the noise the then government had made about decentralisation, MMDCEs were arm-chair folks, mainly concerned with demolitions and sanitation than engagement of the huge informal economy actors and other businesspeople for economic development in the district and communities.
Thankfully, we have since moved on, and citizens are now demanding more from these actors, who are now under pressure to deliver.
Leadership by example
We at the Daily Statesman are particularly enthused about the Asantehene’s call on these appointees because the eminent king is a perfect example of an agent of active development and transformation of society.
He has shown this not only by his noble feat in leading other eminent chiefs to broker enduring peace in Dagbon, but also because he currently leads a team of hardworking eminent Ghanaians in moving out to bring investors into the country. And the impact has been remarkable in terms of job creation and the improvement of lives and livelihoods.
That is why he can boldly charge the MMDCEs to explore how their districts can create businesses and jobs in reducing the burden on government at the top, while creating prosperity at the base where the electorate is.
Focusing on how they can explore ways of generating more revenue, the king also cautioned them against over-reliance on funds from the top to run their administrative and development programmes.
They can’t fail
He reminds them of property rates and leases among other ways of generating funds for local development. Particularly for those whose communities have tourism attractions, including wildlife, beaches, mountains, forests and festivals that still excite tourists, we don’t see why they can generate more revenue from these avenues.
Thankfully, again, as the MMDCEs responded, over 90 percent of them had been in the seats before, and can therefore brace themselves for the task, having known the terrain and economic potentials that exist there.
Granted that they would live up to their promise to heed the eminent king’s advice, there should be no reason why they cannot attain goals that would give the ruling party another opportunity to do more and more in creating more and more jobs and improving lives and livelihoods.
About The Author
