Approve MMDCE nominees - NADMO boss urges assembly members

The Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh, has appealed to assembly members to ensure the smooth approval of the President's nominees for the position of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to help the government accelerate its development agenda.

He said the role of MMDCEs in driving government agenda could not be underestimated for which reason their approval must not suffer any hiccups.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, Mr Agyemang-Prempeh, who is a former District Chief Executive for Ahafo North, observed that the approval process of MMDCEs was sometimes fraught with tension.

Huge role

"As a former Presiding Member and DCE during the regime of President John Agyekum Kufuor, as well as a former National Council Member of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) and a Local Government Practitioner, I am aware of the huge role MMDCEs play in advancing both local  and central governments' activities.

"This is why I am also appealing to all presiding members, traditional rulers, party executives, opinion leaders and all other stakeholders to also rise up to the occasion by appealing to assembly members to confirm the MMDCEs nominees without any hindrance," he said.

President's resolve

Mr Agyemang-Prempeh said there was no question about the President's resolve to strengthen local governance.

"Although many people waited for some time for the announcement of the names of the nominees, I believe that the President knew what he was doing," he stated.

Mr Agyemang-Prempeh said an appointment as MMDCE was an opportunity to serve the nation and, therefore, much was expected of the appointees.

"I am very confident that the MMDCEs will prove their mettle by working hard to justify the confidence reposed in them by the President and their assemblies," the NADMO boss said.

Competitors

The former DCE encouraged the nominees to immediately extend a hand of brotherliness to their competitors who lost out.

"By doing that, there will be no winner and loser in the contest," he noted.

On the other side, he urged those who did not get the nod to not lose hope but rather put their trust in God with the conviction that one day God would give them even bigger positions.

New look

Mr Agyemang-Prempeh said the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development had a very hard working minister in Mr Dan Botwe who, with support from his two deputies, was working assiduously to give local governance a new look.

"He, therefore, needs the support of the MMDCEs and indeed all well-meaning Ghanaians to deliver," he said.