By Richard Attenkah
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, who also doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpone Katamanso Constituency, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, has tasked workers in the Tema Metropolitan Assembly to be punctual, proactive and hardworking to make sure that official working hours are used for productive work.
Again, the work of the assembly is very critical, and that requires that they re-position themselves to offer pragmatic support to the government in meeting the demands of the citizenry.
He stated that their continued stay in office, as a political party and administrative heads, will depend, to large extent, on how they are able to meet targets, as stated in the performance contract, and that they need to work as a team, with a purposeful approach, to achieve their aims as an assembly and a region.
He, however, cautioned workers who do not want to cooperate in meeting their objectives, saying, “We will not tolerate and compromise on anything that has the tendency to derail our efforts of achieving our targets.”
“As a political party in government, they have four years, under normal circumstances to rule, but, as we are already aware, we spent eight months of our tenure in court to determine our fate, which many will think [we] have been in office for two years,” he noted.
He encouraged all heads to live by example, to inspire their subordinates. He hinted that revenue mobilisation is one of the challenges confronting the assemblies, which mostly rely solely on the Common Fund for development projects, thus the result is that any delay in the District Assembly Common Fund affects project documentation as well.
He urged the assembly not to depend on only the Common Fund, but evolve innovative ways to generate enough to enable them provide the needed social and economic infrastructure for the people living in their jurisdiction. This was disclosed when he met with tribal heads and some workers in the Tema Metropolitan Assembly.
Touching on security, he said security issues are very dear to the heart of the government, citing the recent breakthrough in combating crime on the high seas and land as attesting to these facts. “I urged the assembly to support the security agencies in performing their duties to continue to protect the territorial integrity of the country, lives and properties.”
He encouraged the assembly to remove all unauthorised structures in the metropolis, especially, those on waterways.