The Deputy Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Mr Augustine Collins Ntim has undertaken a tour of over 20 Municipal and District Assemblies in the Ashanti Region to assess their performance on mainly the government's flagship programmes.
It forms part of the Ministry's comprehensive plan to constantly assess the performance of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) country-wide to ensure that they deliver on their mandate.
The Assemblies are being assessed in various areas notably agriculture, health and education under the flagship programmes in addition to revenue mobilisation and utilisation and holding of statutory meetings per the Local Government Act.
Under agriculture, emphasis is being placed on the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ), Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) and Modernising Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) programmes targeted at boosting agricultural production and promoting rural economic development.
PERD, a decentralised national tree crop development programme, is meant to ginger up the cultivation of cash crops namely coconut, oil palm, cashew, mango, shea and rubber through the free supply of seedlings to rural farmers based on the ecology of their areas.
MAG, funded by the Canadian Government, on its part, seeks to implement a comprehensive market-oriented approach to farming by strengthening and modernising agricultural extension services.
Speaking during a visit to the Ejura Municipal Assembly, Mr Ntim said the government, in its determination to create jobs, boost agricultural production and industrial growth and power socio-economic transformation, had initiated a raft of interventions including PFJ and the One -District-One Factory (1D1F) programmes.
Besides being the mainstay of the country's economy, agriculture, he said, had been identified as the most critical and reliable tool for promoting rural economic development and improving the lot of rural dwellers.
The Deputy Minister also visited the Mampong, Obuasi, Bekwai and Ejisu Municipalities, Adansi South, Adansi North, Asante-Akim North, Asante-Akim Central, Sekyere-Kumawu and Amansie Central District Assemblies.
Mr Ntim who is also the Member of Parliament for Offinso North in Ashanti was generally impressed with the performance of the Assemblies but remarked that "there is still room for improvement".
