Mampong (Ash), Aug. 09, GNA – Mr. Collins Augustine Ntim, Deputy Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, has implored Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to support economic activities in their jurisdictions.
This, according to the Minister, was the way to boost the local economy while improving the living conditions of the people.
Mr. Ntim who was on a working visit in the Asante Mampong Municipality in the Ashanti Region, underlined the need for MMDAs to pursue deliberate policies to support and promote local productive ventures with the potential to create jobs for the people.
The visit was, among other things, to assess the impact of the leadership of the Municipal Chief Executive and his working relationship with all stakeholders for the collective good of the people.
The Deputy Minister said much as all the various flagship programmes of government sought to improve the lives of the citizenry, the MMDAs also had a role to play in providing the enabling environment for local businesses to thrive.
In a meeting with chiefs and departmental heads of the assembly, the Deputy Minister charged all stakeholders to put their shoulders to wheel to spur economic growth to improve livelihoods.
The minister reminded the MCE and the departmental heads that the success and otherwise of government programmes largely depended on their output and admonished them to prioritise the implementation of all the flagship programmes.
He applauded the level of cooperation and unity between the Assembly and all relevant stakeholders and urged them to maintain the rapport to accelerate the development of the area.
Mr. Ntim, however, urged the MCE, Mr. Thomas Appiah- Kubi to continue to give more attention to agriculture to ensure more people benefitted from the numerous policies in the sector to improve their incomes.
With a huge potential for food production, the expectation is that more resources would be committed to agriculture to get at least 60 per cent of the population to go into farming, the Deputy Minister pointed out.
GNA