Member of Parliament for Pru East, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, is pushing for adequate human and financial resources for the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies [MMDAs] to quicken the pace of development in Ghana.
He argued that is the surest way of meeting the development aspirations that the people have been yearning for over the years.
Though he welcomed the creation of the new regions, he said: “I believe the fundamental issue ought to have been strengthening MMDAs; they are the real agents of development.
For him, Ghana should be thinking of improving the human capital of the assemblies, and put more resources into the assemblies because regional coordinating councils are not really agents of development.
The MP said this in an interview with TV3 Thursday during his tour of the some polling stations in the proposed Bono East Region in the ongoing referendum to create six new regions out of the four of the 10 existing regions in Ghana.
According to the MP, the government is only paying lip service to the decentralisation process by not equipping the MMDAs with the required resources to accelerate the development process in their communities.
“If we want to put our money where our mouth is, we should be thinking of improving decentralisation. I’m worried that as a people, irrespective of the party in power, we seem to be paying lip service to decentralization; power is over centralized,” he stated.
Asked about the benefits of creating new regions, the MP who was once the Power Minister under John Mahama’s administration he said: “It basically means a shorter distance to the regional capital. For me, essentially that is the major benefit.
Notwithstanding his personal reservations about the creation of the regions, he said the National Democratic Congress has been very instrumental in the pro-Bono East region, noting the party in the constituency released its vehicle which has been the main one for the Bono East campaign.
“As a party we are supportive of the idea, however, as an individual we ought to be looking more at strengthening the assemblies,” he indicated.
By Larry Paa Kwesi Moses|3news.com|Ghana
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