Hohoe, Aug 6, GNA - Mr Joseph Amenowode, the Volta Regional Minister, has said the government was aware of the high expectations of Ghanaians and was poised to demonstrate its fullest commitment towards fulfilling its promises by the end of its tenure.

He said it would be reckless to judge a government that has been in office for seven months and appealed to Ghanaians to exercise restraint. Mr Amenowode, who was addressing the Hohoe Municipal Ordinary Assembly meeting, said though President Mills's administration promised the populace to hit the ground running, "the quantum of mess left by the predecessor administration made the government to get stuck in the mud".

He said government was saddled with huge debts across board and the wisest way to stitch that bad situation was to institute forensic auditing of all ministries, departments and agencies for redress. Mr Amenowode said all municipal and district assemblies in the region were confronted with huge financial expenditures with the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) and the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) where due diligence was sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. He said initial investigations attested to gross impropriety, multiple employment, impersonation, absenteeism and non-submission of reports.

"Scores of people and individuals caught up in that web, who could have been summarily dismissed were only asked to reapply because, we want to give human face to all moves", he said. The Regional Minister said there would be drastic changes in the administration of the region towards the attainment of a "Better Ghana" and development in the right direction slogan. Mr Amenowode said no amount of media whip against him, threats of court cases or name-calling would deter him from achieving the development aspirations of the region. 06 Aug 09