Editorial

Middle Belt Development Authority must not fail Ghana

The Middle Belt Development Authority (MBDA) has initiated 15 infrastructural projects in the Bono Region and this is in order because it is a demonstration of the MBDA discharging its mandate in one of the regions assigned to it to see to their development.

The MBDA was established in 2017 by Act 962 of the Parliament to be the main vehicle for spearheading the development of five regions, namely Ashanti, Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, and Eastern.

Its objectives  include accelerating   economic  and  social  development    in the five regions forming the Middle Belt  Development Zone  through strategic  direction   in  the planning and  prioritisation    of development    projects; and mobilising  public  resources such as   finances   and private  and  public  investments   for the accelerated   economic and  social  development    of the  Zone.

Its functions include designing a comprehensive    development    strategy; establishing   structures   for the  effective  implementation     of the    strategy; stimulating   investments   and  business   development    to  create jobs  and  increase   income; and investing in economic   and social  infrastructure,   including  roads, energy,   health, education, water  resources    and  communication      to  create  “the pre-conditions     for  accelerated    economic    and  social  development.

Its partners include Samsung, Vodafone, Ghana Stock Exchange and Shell.

The MBDA, therefore, is doing what it is created to do and do it so well that the residents of its development zone would see novel development.

The 15 projects are said to be constructed under the ‘One million dollars per constituency’ initiative by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration and include health, education and water and sanitation facilities dotted across the Bono Region.

This initiative is one which others have described as a hoax because they have not seen anything significant done under it.

With this in mind, the Board of MBDA, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), workers, partners and other stakeholders should avoid everything untoward in order to demonstrate to the critics and the doubting Thomases that the initiative is real and in to improve the lives of the people.

The CEO of the MBDA, Mr Joe Dankwa, says his outfit is currently operating in 109 constituencies in the five regions in question and that the projects being prosecuted are based on needs assessment in response to the Sustainable Development Goals prescribed by the United Nations.

The Ghanaian Times has no doubt that those in charge of MBDA and its counterparts for other zones of the country such as the Northern Development Authority know too well what they are mandated to do.

However, the paper can cite instances where some of such development authorities have shortchanged the people in their catchment areas and the country at large.

It is for this reason that this paper is so much concerned about the activities of the development authorities.

It is the hope of the paper that the right thing would be done and sustained this time around under the strictest of monitoring and supervision by the power that be.

This way, Ghana would see progress rather than retrogression and stagnation in its development.

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