Define role of district co-ordinating directors

Thursday, August 20, 2009 (Page 17)

THE Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly has called for the amendment of Act 462 to clearly define the role of District Co-ordinating Directors.
According to Mr Clement Dandori, the Act distinctly defined the role of the District Chief Executives and the Presiding Members, but remained silent on the duties and functions of co-ordinating directors.
He said co-ordinating directors had been described under the Act as heads of administration and secretaries to district assemblies
The Chairman of the Presidential Commission which was set up to investigate the Ghana@50 celebrations, Mr Justice Isaac Duose, invited Mr Dandori to suggest ways of ensuring accountability and efficiency at the district level.
The Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director appeared before the Commission to render accounts on how the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly expended moneys allocated for the Ghana@50 independence celebrations.
Continuing with his suggestions, Mr Dandori further pointed out that there was the need for channels of communications to be well-defined and respected by all stakeholders in the decentralisation process.
For instance, he said there was no basis for the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to deduct GH¢124,79 being payment for 19,440 anniversary plastic cups from the district’s accounts without officially informing the district.
He said the GH¢6.39 unit price for the plastic cups from the Ghana@50 Secretariat was rather exorbitant, because the unit price of similar plastic cups purchased by the assembly from a private company was 60 pesewas.
For that reason, Mr Dandori pointed out that the DACF should have deducted GH¢11,664.
According to him, the deduction was in excess of GH¢112,515.00.
Asked whether or not he protested at the deductions, he answered in the affirmative, but indicated that he did not put it into writing.
Mr Dandori further suggested that the Commission’s sitting should serve as a wake-up call to Ghanaians that they would not account in heaven alone, but also on earth as well, adding “whatever you do, you would be called to answer one day.”
He said there was the need for staff at the district level to receive periodic training to enhance their capacity.
Mr Dandori gave a detailed account of how the district expended money earmarked for the independence anniversary celebrations, and in the process, received commendation from the Chairman of the Commission.
For his part, the District Co-ordinating Director of the Bibiani-Ahwiaso-Bekwai District Assembly, Mr Louis K. Bayuoh, said the district received quantities of anniversary T-shirts, baseball caps, plastic cups, mathematical sets as well as GH¢10,000 cash for the celebrations.
According to him, the district also received anniversary calendars for 2007 in January, 2008, to which the chairman suggested the district should have rejected the calendars and caused the contractor to refund the money for failing to deliver on time.
He said some of the cloths were sold, while some of the T-shirts were rather distributed to churches and party activists.
He also told the Commission that the district purchased GH¢2,500 worth of anniversary cloths from the Regional Co-ordinating Council, but indicated that there was no receipt to show for the transaction.
However, the former Director of Finance of the Bibiani-Ahwiaso-Bekwai District Assembly, Mr J. Eric Amoah, then moved in and stated that there was receipt to cover the GH¢2,500 payment and promised to produce it before Tuesday, August 25, 2009.
The District Co-ordinating Director of Wassa Amenfi East, Mr Joseph Kwasi Amoah, told the Commission that the then District Chief Executive, Madam Doris Gyapomah, gave 10 and 20 per cent commissions to persons who sold the anniversary T-shirts and cloths respectively.