The President Emeritus of Sister Cities International and Ghana’s Honorary Consul General, Arkansas and Delta Regions in the United States of America, Mr. Sherman Banks has commended the Asunafo North Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Alhaji Mohammed Kwaku Doku for his exemplary leadership describing him as the ‘Best’ Municipal Chief Executive on the African Continent.

“Asunafo North has the potential to grow a local economy that can raise its head in the face of socio-economic development of the country and as an agrarian local economy like that of Batesville – its sister city, the Municipal has got the right leader in steering its local economic development agenda into the future”, he stated.

Mr. Banks made these remarks at a durbar held in his honour when he led a delegation from the Arkansas State Municipal League and Batesville Officials from the United States of America to sign an Economic Development Agreement with the Asunafo North Municipal Assembly which was initiated by the MCE Alhaji Mohammed Kwaku Doku.
He said Hon. Doku is a selfless and committed leader who is working hard to raise the standard of living for the people in his Municipality. “You have got the best Municipal Chief Executive who is selfless, hardworking and has demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities by spreading numerous developmental projects all over the Municipality”, noted.

Mr. Banks said the local economic agreement that had just been signed would strengthen the relationship between the two cities for rapid development of the Asunafo North Municipality. He said, Hon. Doku and his adhoc committee have proposed relevant terms of engagement with the Batesville City in the areas of agriculture, education, health, local economic development, information communication technology and culture. These proposed terms of engagement, he said, are clear manifestation of a good visionary leader like Hon. Doku who wants the best for the people in his municipality. “In respect of this, I am inviting local exhibitors from the Asunafo North Municipality to participate in all annual Trade Fairs organized in Batesville, USA”, he said.

Mr. Banks urged all the people in the Asunafo North Municipality to give their fullest support to Hon. Doku for rapid development of the Municipality.

In his opening remarks, Hon. Mohammed Kwaku Doku asked the delegation to accept all the proposed agreement for its implementation. As an agrarian local economy, he said, agriculture has a lot of potentials, when properly harnessed will provide the Municipal’s economic growth. “It is the local economic development where we tap our local resources and turn them into economic opportunities to reduce poverty”, he noted. “If we all engage ourselves in all the sectors of agriculture as business and not just a means to live, Ghana will prosper a lot, our gross domestic product will increase sharply and this will have a direct correlation to increasing our export earnings and reducing our independence on import items”, he added.