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Chiefs, opinion leaders sensitised on
APRM in U/E
Bolgatanga, March 1, GNA - Professor S K Agyapong, Chairman
of Ghana's African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council (APRM-GC),
on Wednesday stressed the need for attitudinal change on the
part of Ghanaians if the nation is to attain its
developmental aspirations.
"We have to discard this attitude of self-centredness, which
has become so pervasive in our society today and put our
nation, our communities first in our everyday endeavours,"
he said, urging traditional authorities to play a leading
role in the crusade.
Professor Agyapong made the call at a one-day dissemination
workshop on the APRM organised in Bolgatanga for over 60
participants comprising chiefs, elders, traditional council
registrars and women opinion leaders in the Upper East
Region.
The Professor also cited the poor time consciousness of
Ghanaians and the tendency for incoming governments to throw
overboard all programmes, plans, ideas and ongoing projects
of the previous regime as other negative trends that had to
be changed, as they caused untold financial loss to the
nation.
"In most instances, the projects and ideas were abandoned
not because they were not laudable but just for the mere
reason that they were initiated by a perceived rival
regime," he said, adding "let us learn to preserve rather
than destroy."
Professor Agyapong also expressed concern about the rate of
environmental degradation in the Upper East and Upper West
regions and appealed to traditional rulers in the area to
mobilise their communities to undertake tree planting on a
massive scale when the rains set in, indicating that
government would be prepared to support them with logistics.
In his remarks Mr Boniface Gambila, Upper East Regional
Minister, observed that traditional rulers had been worthy
partners of government since the colonial era and that on
the nation's march towards good governance the inclusion of
chiefs was a matter of great importance.
He stressed the need to provide the various traditional
council secretariats with qualified professionals and the
requisite work tools, saying that this would not only make
them more effective in the discharge of their roles but
would also enable them to contribute meaningfully to
national progress.
"Time has come to strengthen the capacity of traditional
rulers and empower them to provide quality leadership in
their communities, and the nation as a whole," he said.
Mr Gambila urged chiefs in the area to ensure that community
resources were efficiently harnessed and utilised for the
collective benefit of the people.
In a welcoming address Bishop Paul Bemile, Member of the
APRM-GC, explained that the purpose of the workshop was to
present the highlights of the Country Review Report to
stakeholders in the Region and to solicit the support of
traditional rulers and other opinion leaders in monitoring
the implementation of the APRM Programme of Action.
He announced that the National Governing Council would from
this year promote the formation of District APRM oversight
committees to educate the populace on the implementation and
monitoring of the Programme of Action.
"Indeed, Ghana has become a model of emulation in the
implementation of the APRM in Africa," he said, adding that
the Governing Council had shared Ghana's experience at the
African Governance Forum and other countries both within and
outside Africa.
Other members of the National Governing Council present at
the workshop included Dr S K B Asante, Dr Francis Appiah,
Executive Secretary and Mr Sam Cudjoe, Principal Programme
Officer of NAPRM.
In his closing remarks Mr Robert Ajene, a retired
educationist who chaired the function, noted that even
though Ghana's decentralisation programme had gone on for
more than two decades now, power was still effectively
centralised in Accra.
"State officials still spend precious time and public funds
travelling to Accra to pursue matters that could have been
conveniently handled at the regional level, all at the
expense of the tax payer."
Mr Ajene urged government to take measures to ensure the
effective implementation of the decentralisation policy.
GNA
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