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General News of Monday, 19 May 1997

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DON'T BE CORRUPT ...PRESIDENT WARNS DISTRICT CHIEF EXECUTIVES

The President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings has urged District Chief Executives to stay away from the welfare of the people their prime concern. He said whatever the problems government must solve ,corruption among government and party functionaries should not be part of them. He said the revolt of 1979 from which the present government takes inspiration was against corruption and this legacy must be maintained in all sectors of the government .President Rawlings made the call when he closed a two day induction seminar organised for metropolitan , municipal and district chief executives at the Armed Forces Staff College near Teshie on Tuesday. He reminded them that whatever others might think, the June 4 Revolution had no ideological content but was aimed at weeding out corruption from the society and said this should not be lost on anyone. President Rawlings urged them to use the first year of the second term of office of the government to make the necessary impact on the people so that the remaining years could be used to consolidate their achievements . This he said , would require a lot of sacrifices and expressed the hope that they would stand up to the task.

The President also called on the chief executives to maintain constant contact with the people by setting up sub - committee to handle some issues they might not have the time to personally handle . President Rawlings spoke about some of the conflicts that often develop between DCEs and other centres of authority such as presiding members of district assemblies and Members of Parliament , among others and asked them to ensure that the spirit of the district assemblies is not killed by multi - party democracy.

He said as the direct link of the government with the mainstream of the grassroots , the DCEs should conduct themselves in such a way as to win the genuine confidence of the people to enable the government to carry through its programmes. The President urged them to take advantage of the seminar to correct their mistakes to enable the government lead Ghana into the next millennium.

Source: Graphic