THE Ghana Road Safety Commission and the police came under severe criticism for their inability to clear unauthorised traffic ramps along the highways in the Eastern Region, which have hindered traffic flow and destroyed a number of vehicles in the region.
The control of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in new districts from Accra and the rehabilitation of old school buildings with funds from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), were also criticised.
The criticisms were levelled by Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) in the region at the Eastern Regional Co-ordinating Council meeting at Koforidua last Wednesday.
The meeting brought together MDCEs, presiding members of the 21 assemblies, and heads of departments in the region, as well as some traditional rulers.
The event was to enable the assemblies and heads of departments to brief the Co-ordinating Council on measures they were taking to improve the living conditions of the people.
The MDCEs came up with the criticism after the Chairman of the Road Safety Commission, Mr Stephen Anokye and the Kwahu North District Chief Executive, Mr Solomon Yaw Fordwor, had given presentations to the gathering.
In his presentation, Mr Anokye, among other things, mentioned indiscipline among drivers and other road users as the cause of rampant motor accidents in the region.
He called on donors to support the commission to enable it to carry out a number of educational programmes to curb the motor accidents.
As soon as he completed reading his statement, the Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Ofosu Asamoah, took the floor and said it was unfortunate that there were numerous unauthorised traffic ramps on almost all the roads in the region, particularly within the Kwaebibirem District, and wondered why the Road Safety Commission and the police could not do anything about the situation.
A number of MDCEs in their speeches, also condemned the commission and the police for their inability to clear the ramps and called on the two bodies to act on the issue as soon as possible.
Mr Fordwor, whose presentation dwelt on a number of development projects in the Kwahu North District, one of the 23 political entities to benefit from the MCA initiative, said the inclusion of the district, as well as others in the region, would be beneficial to the people.
Nana Onwona Asante, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kwahu South, another beneficiary district of the MCA, followed up by telling the gathering that a number of dilapidated school buildings in the district were being rehabilitated with funds from the MCA and that drew condemnation from the gathering.
Most of those who spoke on the issue, stated that it would be appropriate if new school buildings would be constructed instead of rehabilitating the old ones, something which they explained, took the form of plastering.
The Chief of Koforidua Ada, Odeefuo Boadi Asiedu, condemned the control of the health insurance scheme in the new districts from its headquarters in Accra, which he said was against the new local government regulations.
That was after the Regional Manager of the scheme, Mr Collins Danso Akuamoah, had briefed the gathering on the scheme, which, he said, had made significant progress in the region, and disclosed that the schemes in the newly created districts were being operated from the national headquarters in Accra.
Early on, the Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Afram Asiedu, had told the gathering that despite the rise in the world price of petroleum products and their attendant hike in food prices, the Kufuor Administration was able to weather the storm through good governance and prudent economic policies.
He, therefore, asked the MDCEs to effectively and efficiently manage the limited resources transferred by the central government to departments, agencies and the assemblies to ensure that the best results were obtained.
Mr Afram Asiedu traced the history of Ghana’s democracy, and described the past eight years as very fruitful.
He also dwelt extensively on other aspects in the region such as security, stating that although the spate of murders that occurred in Suhum sometime ago seemed to have re-surfaced with two of such deaths reported recently, the security services were on alert to tackle the issue.
The regional minister said the security agencies had been able to prevent disturbances associated with chieftaincy disputes in the region.
He, however, expressed his dissatisfaction about the Yilo Krobos’ rejection of the Government White Paper that dealt with the limestone-rich lands of Odugblase, which was being claimed by both the Yilos and Manya Krobos, who also condemned the report but accepted part of its recommendations.
Mr Afram Asiedu stated that the Regional Co-ordinating Council was monitoring a number of projects in the region, and urged the managers to ensure that they were well managed.
No comments:
Post a Comment