First Mayor’s Awards launched

THE Deputy Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment (MLGRDE), Mr Maxwell Kofi Juma, has urged District and Municipal Chief Executives to furnish his office with plans for the development of their various communities.
He said in order to achieve their vision enshrined in the Constitution, they needed to encourage and nurture activities that would propel the development of their districts and national development as a whole.
Mr Juma, who was speaking at the launch of the first Municipal Chief Executives/Mayors Award in Accra last Monday, said his ministry had the tools to help them achieve their aspirations, noting that the focus of the local government system was to deepen democracy and development at the local level.
The Chief Executive of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Mr Lawrence Prempeh said District and Municipal Chief Executives generated their own revenue for local development.
The Co-ordinator of the event, Mr Samuel Quansah, said the event, being jointly organised by MLGRDE and Sparkx Ghana Limited, an event management firm, was an opportunity to honour and show appreciation to some individuals, groups, companies and non-governmental organisations who had been helpful to their Assemblies.
“It is an event geared towards building confidence, deepening the relationship between the Assemblies and their development partners; and showcasing the good works of the Assemblies,” he said.
He said their aim was to establish and sustain the event to encourage others to work hard.
“In this way, we believe that the Assemblies can mobilise more funds and resources, as well as other facilities, for the development of their areas and implementation of their own policies and programmes to better the lives of Ghanaians in general,” he noted.
He said the event was a pilot programme which would start with some Assemblies and later expand to cover all the Assemblies.
The programme, he said, would start with the Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Cape Coast, Tamale, and Tema Metropolitan Assemblies, and the Bolgatanga, Sunyani, Koforidua, and Ho municipalities.
Mr Quansah said a 20-minute documentary detailing the achievements of each Assembly on the theme: "Focus On My Assembly" will precede the awards ceremony.
After the preview of the documentaries, he said, the public would have the chance to contribute to the selection of the winners through text messaging.