MMDAS MUST REFRAIN FROM RELYING ON COMMON FUND (PAGE 13, JUNE 26)

THE Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid has urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) to refrain from continuously relying on funds from the common fund and rather embark on aggressive revenue mobilisation method.
He said funds from the common fund were only meant to add up to what the assemblies already had, and therefore relying solely on them tended to slow most development projects and programmes.
Mr Khalid, who made the call during the first ordinary session of the third assembly of the Wa Municipal Assembly in Wa, stressed the need for the assemblies to identify the loopholes which hindered their revenue generation efforts and plug them.
He further called for effective supervision, which, he said, was very critical if the assemblies would be able to make any inroads with regards to their development programmes.
Touching on the state of development in the Wa municipality, the regional minister expressed regret at the incessant indiscriminate construction of houses in recent time by residents and appealed to institutions like the Town and Country Planning to rise up to the occasion.
He abhorred the perceived lack of assertiveness on the part of the regional officers of the town and country planning in supervising the construction of houses in the municipality, pointing out, “We have to ensure that every house constructed in the municipality has toilet facilities among others.”
That, Mr Khalid noted, was the only way to improve sanitation in the municipality.
He said those who gave permits must insist that toilets and all other sanitary facilities were part of the buildings before such people were permitted to embark on their projects.
For his part, the Wa Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Yakubu Duogo, announced some of the development projects earmarked by the assembly, which included construction of schools, public places of convenience and the provision of a borehole.
He also hinted that the Wa municipality was among four other towns selected to benefit from the government support streetlight project to be embarked upon in September this year.
Earlier, the assembly failed to elect Mr Adams Sulemana, a teacher, who contested the position of presiding member.
Mr Suleman could not poll two thirds of the 25-member assembly.
As a result, the assembly adjourned the election to reconvene on June 29, 2009, for members to vote for the second time.