Category: News

Ladies and Gentlemen of the press,

I seize this opportunity to welcome you all to this press briefing on the demise of a member of the council, Hon. Francis Kofi Okesu and former Municipal Chief Executive of Krachi East Municipal Assembly and the Dean of Municipal and District Chief Executives (Oti Region).

The sad event occurred on Sunday, 4^th September, 2022 in Kumasi, Ashanti Region after he took permission from the Hon. Regional Minister on Friday, 2^nd September, 2022. The body has been deposited at a morgue in the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hopital for an autopsy and investigation surrounding the death.

While the government of Ghana, Regional Security Council (REGSEC), family members of the deceased and sympathizers are waiting for the outcome of the investigations, certain media houses are peddling unfounded reportage on the cause of death. REGSEC wish to register its displeasure as follows;

1. The reportage had been hasty and prejudicial.
2. The reportage has the tendency to aggravate the existing grieve in the family.
3. The causes adduced by these media houses are strange and aimed at character assassination
4. the REGSEC had not known the deceased with those negative attributes and members feels it is not a true reflection of the man, Hon. Francis Kofi Okesu.

For a better way forward, REGSEC wants to state that the trip the deceased undertook was legitimate and dissociates itself from the unprogressive reportage and demand for the following;

1. An apology from the underlisted media house(s) to the deceased, the family, REGSEC and the entire Oti Region i.e;
   • The Daily Graphic (Dailygraphiconline)
   • Joy News (Myjoyonline.com)
   • Daily Guide newspaper
2. A retraction of the relevant reportage.
3. Media house must be circumspect in dealing with matters related to such challenging issues.
4. Failure to adhere to the call(s) shall give us cause not to listen, engage the affected media houses in our programs and activities any more.

REGSEC wants to call for calm from the aggrieved parties or persons who have been affected by the misleading reportage of those media house.

May the soul of the Hon. Francis Kofi Okesu rest in perfect peace. Thank you.

HON. JOSHUA GMAYENAAM MAKUBU (CHAIRMAN/REGSEC)

The District League Table (DLT) is a tool developed for tracking national development and highlighting Districts that are performing well and those which are handicapped in terms of wellbeing of their population. The DLT ranks Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) on selected sector-based indicators in order to highlight performance of the districts.

On Monday 23rd May, 2022, the National Development Planning Commission held a one-day workshop to pre-launch the preparation of the 2021 District League Table Report and also disseminated the 2020 report. The Objective was to dialogue and inform the national level actors, especially MDAs and MMDAs on the selected indicators to assess the disparities and inequalities and use this to review current frameworks for policy dialogue as well as generate concrete programmatic suggestions.

At the workshop, the outcome of the previous report (2020 DLT report) was presented to participants. The presentation presented the regional DLT scores and ranking, the regional performance in the assessed areas as well as the district scores and rankings of the districts in the Oti region.

Yendi – Wednesday, February 9, 2022: Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) have been charged to ensure harmonious working relationships with traditional authorities as indispensable partners for effective decentralized local governance. The charge was given by the Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, (MLGDRD) Honorable Daniel Botwe when he paid a courtesy call on His Royal Majesty, Ndan Ya-Na Abubakari II, King of Dagbon at Gbewaa Palace in Yendi.

The visit was to pay homage and inform him about an ongoing training programme for MMDCEs from the Upper West, Upper East, North East, Northern, Savannah, and Bono East Regions. The course which began on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, sought to among others create a platform to share experiences for feedback; deepen understanding of local governance, development management, and their responsibilities in the implementation of government flagship programmes.

Honorable Daniel Botwe was accompanied by two of his Deputies, Honorable O.B. Amoah, and Honorable Collins Ntim, the Northern Regional Minister, Honorable Shaibu Abubakar Saidu, the Head of the Local Government Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, other government functionaries, and some MMDCEs.

Honorable Botwe praised the King for his continuous counsel, direction, and advice as well as other traditional leaders whose efforts have contributed to national development over the years. He entreated the MMDCEs to regularly engage, build effective and cordial relationships with them to ensure their support in the performance of their roles.

Ya –Na Abubakari II through a spokesperson commended the government for empowering the MMDCEs to effectively perform their roles. He also commended pragmatic steps being taken by the government to address the perennial water crises during the dry season and the limited electricity coverage within the Yendi Municipality and its environs. He requested government through Hon. Botwe to expedite work on the Yendi Water supply system and the Rural Electrification projects to make these challenges a thing of the past. Ya -Na expressed optimism that the execution of the two projects would alleviate the plights of the people of Yendi.