THE Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, has called on metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the country to identify their local economic potentials and make investment in those areas a priority.
That, he said, would boost their ability to create wealth and more jobs for the people and thereby become less dependent on the common fund from the central government.
Speaking at the second ordinary meeting of the Kwaebibirem District Assembly in the Eastern Region, Mr Ankrah said, "It is no longer prudent for assemblies to exist only as administrative and political entities; they should also make investment in their local economies a priority to become financially empowered."
He noted that with the emergence of the new concept of local economic development and empowerment, there was the need for a paradigm shift in the pursuit of the development agenda by district assemblies.
He said instead of district assemblies heavily relying on the Common Fund for development, such as the provision of social amenities, they should rather identify and invest in the economic potentials of their areas.
He called on the Kwaebibirem District Assembly to take advantage of the vast tracts of suitable land for the cultivation of oil palm in the area and offer the needed incentives to farmers in order to make oil palm cultivation a lucrative venture for the people, especially the youth.
"As the fulcrum of development, you must not be so myopic in the pursuit of your development programmes; you must diversify in investment projects that can create wealth and employment and address other socio-economic challenges facing your development," he said.
He reminded district assemblies to take advantage of the agro-processing and small-scale enterprises programmes launched by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, to improve on their agro-processing capacity to stimulate their local economies.
For his part, the District Chief Executive for Kwaebibirem, Mr George Agyeman Duah, highlighted various development achievements such as the construction of a number of classrooms, the rehabilitation of roads in the area and the supply of assorted educational materials to basic schools in the area.
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