By Mohammad Balu
Tumu, May 19, GNA – Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister has tasked municipal and district assemblies to provide functional toilets and water facilities for use at workplaces.
He said many of the facilities had broken down, a situation he described as not conducive to workers , as it inconvenienced them to lose working hours thereby contributing to low productivity.
Dr Bin Salih made the statement when he interacted with heads of departments in Tumu, as part of series of visits embarked on to the assemblies to acquaint himself with challenges at hand.
The Regional Minister expressed disappointment at the abysmal performance of the assemblies in the 2021 Evaluation Assessment of the assemblies in the region.
Dr. Bin Salih noted “office atmosphere and Environment, are some of the issues of concern by the assessors as it was found out that there were no decent toilet and running water facilities.
“I find that to be strange. I don’t expect your offices not have toilets and urinals without running water. But you should have for yourselves and visitors that come to the offices”, he lamented.
He said in 2021, there was an assessment of all the 260 assemblies in the country and the performance of the assemblies in the region was nothing to write home about.
Six out of the 11 assemblies, scored beyond 50 per cent and that did not speak well of “an endowed region like ours”.
The Regional Minister also identified documentation as one of the problems in the assemblies and the reason for the Abysmal performance of the assemblies.
“For example, when meetings are convened and when you ask for minutes of a meeting, you are found wanting, while Attendance records are not also available. This ought to be changed moving forward”, he pointed out.
“Another issue of concern that brought the assemblies down was absenteeism. When the assessors come and they asked to see certain officers, they are nowhere to be found and this is not good for us because the assessment comes with incentives and the ones that faulted do not benefit”, he added.
Dr. Bin Salih appealed to government workers to be more committed and dedicated to work and duty and “bring Light to the work that we do”
He gave the assurance of his commitment to provide equal attention for the development needs of all assemblies in the region and tasked the municipal and district chief executives, and coordinating directors to be alive with their duties to help improve performance.
“Any official who is found dabbling in partisan politics is advised to resign, as the regional coordinating council will not look on unconcerned”, he warned.
Mr. Yakubu Fuseini Batong, Sissala East Municipal Chief Executive, commended government for posting 28 police officers to the municipality to help maintain law and order.
He however raised concern about the slow work on the Tumu – Navrongo road and the Tumu-Han stretch of the highway Which may be cut off with the setting of the rains.
GNA