Election of DCEs advocated

Sandema, (UE) April 22, GNA - Future governments have been urged to ensure that District Chief Executives (DCEs) were elected to curtail confrontations and other problems that at times characterise appointments of persons to that office. The call was made by Ms. Agnes Aganda, Coordinator of the Tamale Ecclesiastical Provincial Pastoral Conference (TEPPCON) of the Catholic Church, at a two-day workshop, that was jointly organized by TEPPCON and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German Organization, working to promote good governance, at Sandema in the Builsa District of the Upper East Region.

The event that was under the theme: "Sustainable Peace for Sustainable Development", attracted participants from youth organizations, political parties, civil organizations and heads of departments in the district.

Ms. Aganda explained that if DCES were elected it would reflect public opinion and said even though it was too late for such an exercise to be carried out by the present government, subsequent administrations should plan to make it a reality.

She expressed concern that some youth and Community members demonstrated against some of the President's nominee and appealed to such persons to resort to dialogue to address the problem. Ms. Aganda said it was not proper for any one to insist that a DCE must come from the district that he or she was supposed to lead since it could result in the selection of incompetent leaders. She expressed dismay that number of female DCEs was low and said although the President made a pledge to appoint 40 per cent of women to political positions, it did not reflect in the appointment of DCEs, especially in the three Northern Regions.

Ms. Aganda said despite the fact that many of the women who applied to be appointed as DCES were qualified, they were disqualified by the interview panels.

She said unless political leaders ignored unsubstantiated allegations and wrong perceptions about women, they (women) would feel that they were not part of the political system. The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo commended the Catholic Church for complementing government efforts in promoting education, health and agriculture, citing the building of schools, provision of good drinking water and micro-credit to the poor. He appealed to the Church to sustain its support for government in the administration of the country.

Mr Woyongo asked the participants to take the workshop seriously to enable them to assist in ensuring peace in their communities. The Senior Programme Manager of KAS, Mr. Isaac Owusu-Mensa said the organisation was committed to peace for development and called on participants to help to promote peace in their areas. He said huge sums of monies used in conflict resolution could be channelled into development.

Mr Owusu-Mensa said KAS and TEPPCON organized the workshop to help implement the organisation's peace programme, as part of the 2009 civic education programme. He explained that it was aimed at sensitizing the public, particularly the youth on the essence of peace to enable them to avoid being used by leaders to accomplish their selfish interest rather than contributing to national development. 22 April 09