Appoint people to monitor monies allocated to assemblies - Ahimah

A LEADING member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Baffour Ahimah, has suggested the appointment of three persons outside each district assembly to monitor the utilisation of various monies allocated to the district from the District Assembly Common Fund. This, he said, will ensure that monies allocated for development projects are not dissipated thereby forestalling the present complaints of lack of transparency in the administration of such monies. Nana Ahimah, who was speaking in an interview over the week-end, also called for an immediate probe into the administration of the former Chief Executive of the Kwahu District Assembly, Mr Rexford Kwasi Dankyi. Nana Ahimah, who is also a citizen of Kwahu, observed that many Kwahu citizens hold the view that the NDC Government has done very little for them by way of developments in the area when, infact, the trouble lies with the district assembly, through which development projects are chanelled. He alleged that during the tenure of office of the former DCE, the government allocated an amount of ?1.8 billion to the Kwahu District Assembly Common Fund, apart from ?1 billion which was allocated last year for the continutation of the Kwahu District Water Project. He said out of the amount, the district assembly voted over ?100 million for a lorry park project and ?40 million for a street light project both at Nkawkaw but expressed regret that both projects are still at a standstill.

He further alleged that almost half of the monies voted every year for the Kwahu District Common Fund never really reach the assembly and wondered what could have gone wrong.

Nana Ahimah also stated that various levies collected in the area over the last four years should also be critically examined with the view to establishing whether they were judiciously utilised or not."Another area that should not escape scrutiny is the award of contracts under Rexford Dankyi's Administration to establish whether they were properly awarded in the first place, and also whether tthe projects were executed at all", he stressed.

He said the only way to get to the bottom of the matter is to institute a probe into the former administration and take necessary steps to forestall a recurrence in the near future.

Nana Ahimah seized the opportunity to commend the district assembly, especially the NPP members, for the approval of Mr Opoku Preko, the President's nominee, as the new District Chief Executive and urged him to learn from the mistakes of his predecessor.

He noted that it was a good sign that all the MPs of the area were present at the meeting which approved the nomination of the new DCE and he urged him to do everything in his power to bring the people together for the development of the area.

He also pleaded with government to consider the appointment of Kwahu citizens to the membership of the Council of State as well as top ministerial and ambassadorial positions.

He noted that apart from Mr Mike Acheampong, the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, no other Kwahu citizens are serving in top positions in government, adding that "this situation must be redressed".Meanwhile, Nana Ahimah has flown to the US, Germany, Britain and Holland where he is expected to take time off his numerous engagements to interact with Kwahu citizens in the various countries on developmental projects being undertaken in the country, especially in the Kwahu District.