Daasebre calls for competition

amongst districts to promote local economic development

Daasebre Prof Emeritus Oti Boateng, Paramount Chief of the New Juaben Traditional Area and a Patron of the Media-Corporate Response Initiative (M-CRI) has called for all stakeholders in the Local government system, and particularly the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to roll-out an initiative to engender healthy Economic Development competition amongst districts as a vehicle to promote accelerated Rural Economic Development.
According to him, it is only through a well-coordinated competition that competencies could be built for overall national development. He noted that, the District Jurisdiction as an economic unit in Ghana is the anchor for Rural Economic development.

In his view, Ghana has made significant advances in setting up the right development institutional infrastructure through the District Assembly system to propel Local Economic Development. He, however, contended that the fundamental missing link is the absence of a Popular Performance–Based and Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation system to engender healthy development competition amongst the Assemblies. This he considered as a basic requirement towards attaining a more sustainable and self-reliant development outcomes.
He has, therefore, challenged stakeholders, particularly the Media and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to forge a State-Media partnership to roll-out a Healthy competition -Based District Economic Model to rest Ghana’s decentralization system .By so doing Ghana would pilot a case for Rural Economic Development in Africa.

Daasebre was addressing the Media on his return from a UN Commissioners meeting in Paris when Mr.Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, President of the Azongo Development Planning Consult and the B&FT BUSAC Project Team paid a courtesy call on him to formally brief him on the state of the Media-Coalition Project and to thank him for accepting to lead the project as patron.

The M-CRI is nationwide project initiative to mobilize the media to adopt and implement a globally competitive micro-finance model through Local partnership and participatory planning to promote Rural Economic Development. An advocacy action is currently being supported by the DANIDA-USAID-EU sponsored BUSAC Fund and the B&FT to support the media to play such a role in the decentralization system.

Daasebre Oti Boateng assured the entire media fraternity that he is committed to vigorously pursuing this initiative to strongly register the Media’s role in the decentralization system to support Rural Economic Development. Adding that, upon his investiture during the 2010 World Forum as the vice-chancellor of the World Academy of Letters is mandated by this position to provide leadership for cutting-edge initiatives that has greater prospects of lending lessons for addressing particular development challenges globally. In response to this mandate he has identified the media as a potential vehicle to support rural Economic Development under the Media-Corporate Response Initiative.