MMDAs called upon to prevent conflicts
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Abdallah Abubakari, has called on the various Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the region to take proactive measures to prevent the incessant conflicts in the region.
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He said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) would be forced to channel resources meant for any of the MMDAs that failed to maintain peace in their area into peace-keeping operations.
He said over the years, the region had spent huge sums meant to improve the lives of its citizenry on peace-keeping operations due to the incessant conflicts in the region.
Forum
Mr Abubakari said this in a speech read on his behalf at a forum organised for all the 26 Chief Executives of the MMDAs in the region by the Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji A. B. A. Fuseini.
The forum was also attended by the various Presiding Members (PMs) and District Coordinating Directors of the MMDAs as well as directors of public institutions in the region.
Peace
Mr Abubakari expressed the worry that the region continued to channel its resources into chieftaincy and land dispute settlements, adding that such resources could have been put into development projects to better the lives of the people.
“A lot of resources that could have been used to provide educational and health infrastructure are used to maintain peace. For how long can we continue like this?” he queried.
The minister also encouraged all the heads of the MMDAs to devise effective strategies to increase the mobilisation of internally generated fund (IGF), indicating that returns received from the MMDAs revealed very poor performance in terms of the IGF collection.
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Mr Abubakari explained that the over-reliance of the MMDAs on the central government for funds to finance their projects slowed down development in the region, hence the need for them to mobilise their own resources to undertake their projects.
ODF
The Northern Regional Development Planning Officer, Alhaji Abdul Karim Adam, in his presentation, said most of the MMDAs failed to achieve the implementation of mandatory projects.
He said although the MMDAs were mandated to construct two classroom blocks and two CHPS compounds, most of the MMDAs failed to meet the target.
The Northern Regional Environmental Health Officer, Mr Rex Jakpa, appealed to the various heads of the MMDAs and the politicians in the region to desist from the construction of public toilets.
According to him, the construction of public toilets by the MMDAs and politicians was not helping the region in its fight against open defecation.