Benyiwa-Doe promises living standards improvement

Cape Coast, Sept.9, GNA - Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, Central RegionalMinister, on Wednesday reiterated the determination of the Regional coordinating Council (RCC) to evolve measures to improve upon the living conditions of the vulnerable and deprived in the Region.

She said, consequently, the Council would ensure that funds disbursed to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) by Government and donors are used for the intended purposes.

Mrs Benyiwa-Doe gave the assurance when she interacted with the Joint Sector Review Mission from the Danish Embassy in Ghana, led by its consultant, Mr Jesper Steffensen at the RCC office in Cape Coast.

The group was there to find out its role in the implementation of the District Development Facility (DDF) by the MMDAs.

The Facility was set up with donor funding to complement Government's efforts at improving upon infrastructure and human development at the district level, to accelerate poverty reduction efforts.

To qualify for the DDF, all MMDAs in the Region were assessed, using the Functional Organization Assessment Tool (FOAT), to determine their performance.

The Effutu, Gomoa, and Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa Assemblies initially qualified in 2006, and currently, 16 out of the 17 Assemblies in the Region have qualified and accessed the fund.

Mrs Benyiwa-Doe said improvement in the FOAT assessment was largely due to regular monitoring of the MMDAs by the RCC.

She said stakeholders' forum organized to cross fertilize ideas and improve upon service delivery at the local level had also been of immense benefit.

Mrs Benyiwa-Doe said the DDF was essential because it provided extra resources to the MMDAs to enable them to implement prioritized and discretionary projects, to help improve the living conditions of the people.

She commended development partners and donors for supporting the RCC towards the implementation of interventions to improve upon the lives of the people in the Region.

Mrs Benyiwa-Doe called on the MMDAs to fast track the presentation of reports on projects executed, so that funds could be disbursed to them on time.

Mr Frank Obeng Dapaah, Regional Economic Planning Officer, said that inadequate training of staff and insufficient motivation affected the implementation of DDF projects.

He appealed for logistics to enable the RCC's monitoring team to effectively carry out its role.

Mr Dapaah called for full implementation of the decentralization programme, to ensure absolute utilization of staff of decentralized Ministries, Departments and Agencies by the various assemblies.

Mr Steffensen explained that the DDF consist development grant, board assessment and capacity building funds.

He said that the DDF mainly aimed at enhancing the decentralization process and asked beneficiary assemblies to share their experiences to ensure the successful execution of the Facility.