Metropolitan, Municipal and District APRM Oversight Committees to be

established

Cape Coast, Nov. 17, GNA - Reverend Professor Samuel Adjepong, Chairman of National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council (NAPRM-GC) on Thursday announced that Metropolitan, Municipal and District APRM Oversight Committees would be established to enhance the Council's work next year.

He said the committees would collaborate with National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and act as a link between the Council and the grassroots to enhance the monitoring and evaluation of its programmes. Rev. Prof. Adjepong, was addressing the opening session of a day's 93APRM Dissemination Workshop=94 for members of the Central Region House of Chiefs at Cape Coast.

It was organised to inform the chiefs about the findings and recommendations of the APRM report and collate their views. Rev. Prof. Adjepong called on chiefs to offer the needed support to the APRM report to achieve the desired goals and objectives. He underscored the important role chiefs played in the development of the nation and stressed that Ghana could not develop without chiefs playing their expected role.

Dr Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary of NAPRM-GC stressed the need for chiefs to embark on politics of development to enhance the development of their traditional areas.

He called for modernization of the chieftaincy institution to make it more responsive to the needs and demands of society, adding 93It is time chiefs in the region come out with programmes that would overcome cultural impediments to gender equality, rural-urban migration, incentive schemes and targeted policies to improve on socio-economic development.=94

Dr Appiah expressed concern about the backlog of cases pending in the courts and Regional Houses of Chiefs, inadequate funding to chieftaincy as a governance institution and called for the provision of legal counsels for Regional Houses of Chiefs.

Nana Ato Arthur, Central Regional Minister said the APRM report was not a manifesto of any political party but a report that would enhance good governance and the country's development.

He said good governance was vital in the socio-economic development of any nation, and this formed the basis for Ghana to benefit from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).

Nana Arthur therefore, called on chiefs to support the programme towards an accelerated development of the country. Nana Kwamina Ansah IV, President of Central Region House of Chiefs commended the Council for educating chiefs on the report and called for the implementation of the findings and recommendations to enhance good governance in the country. He gave the assurance that chiefs in the region would play their expected roles.