President Akufo-Addo has sworn into office the governing Boards of the Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern Development Authorities, and the Board of the Zongo Development Fund
At a ceremony held at the Jubilee House on Monday, the President said this was the latest step in a new paradigm of development in Ghana.
These three Development Authorities, the Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern Development Authorities, are tasked with the implementation of the Infrastructure for the Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP).
“We had a lot to do with the profile that the development process has been undertaken up till now. We made therefore the commitment that we will attempt a new paradigm, a bottom-up approach to the development of our nation,” the President said.
“It will be required that the manner in which the capital expenditure of our various budgets have, hitherto been spent, will be done in a different way. We will appropriate from the capital budgets of our country a certain amount of money that will go the Development Authorities to enable them to tackle the issues of development at the grassroots.”
On the rationale for the establishment of the Zongo Development Fund, the President explained that the need to make a special intervention in inner cities and zongos was as a result of the “manner in which the development of our nation had been organized.”
This, he said, necessitated the establishment of Zongo Development Fund, “that will also have as its targets the addressing of the specific needs of the community.”
He was confident that the boards of the authorities and the Zongo Development Fund will live up to his vision.
Mr Edmund Annan, Chair of the Coastal Development AuthorityOn behalf of the Members of the Boards, the Chairperson of the Coastal Development Authority Board, Mr. Edmund Annan, assured the President of their commitment to the task as members of the board.
“We accept that we cannot expect to do the wrong things over again and expect different results.”
He thus called for the support of all towards the realization of the desired goals for the development authorities.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in April appointed the Chief Executive Officers and their deputies to serve at the three newly created development authorities that were passed into law in November 2017.
Heading the Coastal Development Authority as CEO is the former Managing Director of Citi FM and Citi TV, Samuel Attah-Mensah.
A man with administrative experience, Joe Danquah, will be heading the Middle Belt Development Authority, whilst Alhaji Abdel-Majeed Haroun, an Agricultural Economist, will head the Northern Development Authority.
By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citinewsroom.com/Ghana