THE MINISTER for Local Government, Rural Development and Decentralisation (MLGRDD), Dan Kwaku Botwe, has urged the media to push Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to fulfill their obligations to the people in their respective jurisdictions. 

According to him, the Assemblies exist to chart the development course of the towns and communities they oversee.

Addressing senior editors from media outfits in Ashanti at a soiree at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council (ARCC) on Tuesday, Hon Botwe said it was the responsibility for the MMDAs to keep their localities clean and conducive for economic activities.

“The MMDAs have been established to chart the course of development in the localities they oversee and it is the duty of the media to push them to fulfill these obligations to the people at all times”, the Minister stated.

Support:

The Minister asked the media to collaborate with the local Assemblies to sensitise and educate the public on their responsibilities.

He noted that effective dissemination of information could only be achieved through the partnership of the Assemblies and the media outfits whose reach he noted are sometimes beyond where they are located.

Hon Botwe rallied the media to bring to the attention of the various MMDAs the ills they find in the society and the infractions some commit while working for the Assemblies.

“I believe the media can help the MMDAs to exercise their functions very well and I will urge for that collaboration so that together we can help in the effective dissemination of information that would enhance the development course of Ghana”, the Minister stressed.

GJA Prez:

Kingsley E. Hope, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) thanked the Minister for the opportunity to meet up and discuss issues of national development.

He called for better collaboration between the MMDAs in Ashanti with the media since both were agents of development.

Kwame Adinkra, Morning Show Host at Pure Fm appealed to the Minister to renovate the ARCC to a befitting status since the current state was shameful.

John Antwi Boasiako,  News editor at Otec fm asked MMDAs to take advantage of the media and conduct sensitization programmes on matters that would need their involvement.

Dignitaries Present:

Present at the interactive event were the Kumasi Mayor, Hon Sam Pyne, Mrs Emelia Agyebeng Botchwey, Chief Director at ARCC as well as the two deputy ministers of MLGRDD, Hon Osei Bonsu Amoah (MP) and Augustine Collins Ntim (MP) and the chief directors at the Ministry.

BY Michael Ofosu-Afriyie 

Kumasi