Koforidua, Dec. 19, GNA - The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Yaw Barimah, has expressed concern about the poor quality of construction projects and the unauthorized over expenditure on the part of some local government administrators in the Region and demanded a redress of the lapses.

Addressing a meeting of the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council (ERCC) at Koforidua on Monday, Mr Barimah expressed his displeasure about "serious lapses" identified in monitoring report on the municipal and district assemblies in the Region and charged them to work towards complete elimination of the situation.

While acknowledging instances of progress made by many assemblies, Mr Barimah also spoke about the incidence of "poor quality of project construction, late or non-submission of financial returns, poor internally generated revenue and unauthorized over expenditures." He charged District Chief Executives (DCEs) and Presiding Members (PM) to ensure that "henceforth, these lapses are completely eliminated."

Mr Barimah's speech dilated on the core-challenges facing the Region including concerns on project management, chieftaincy and land litigation, the problem of nomadic herdsmen and the difficulties associated with illegal mining and its link to prostitution and the use of hard drugs.

The Regional Minister predicted a likely resurgence of such illegalities during the yuletide, but gave the assurance that the security agencies were on the alert and put on orders to take necessary pre-emptive measures to arrest the miscreants.

Mr Barimah identified chieftaincy disputes as a growing problem though dormant, had the tendency to occasionally erupt and called for concerted effort to ensure that there were no breaches of the peace. According to the Minister, the activities of 'galamsey' operators had been "a major security problem" especially in the Birim North District, where the Assembly had so far spent several millions of cedis to maintain the peace.

"Apart from the environmental hazards such as degradation of the vegetation and the pollution of water bodies, the operations of the illegal miners also "promote anti-social activities including prostitution, armed robbery and consumption of hard drugs", he added. The Regional Coordinating Director, Mr S A Manu, encouraged district assemblies to consider using the services of their members who have legal background to enact appropriate bylaws for approval by the Attorney General's Department.

He said since by-laws were useful weapons at the disposal of the assemblies to enable them generate revenue and control sanitation; there was the need for them to devote some resources towards fashioning effective laws.

The Dean of Municipal and District Chief Executives in the Region, Nana Akwasi Adjei Boateng, urged his colleagues to devote more attention towards the cultivation of jatropher as a way out in developing a durable national energy policy.

Monday's meeting was also used to swear-in new members of the RCC. The Eastern Regional Supervising High Court Judge, Mr Justice W H Addo, administered the oaths of secrecy and allegiance that binds members including DCEs and their PMs to forestall unwarranted disclosure of the Council's deliberations in the larger national interests. Among the new members who were sworn in include Major (rtd) Yao Larson, former Chief Executive Officer of Asante Kotoko Football Club. Regional Coordinating Councils are amongst the statutory advisory bodies created for the effective functioning of local government institutions.

Their functions include, evaluating and assessing the output of ministries, departments and agencies to ensure accelerated and balanced promotion of regional development to meet the socio-economic needs of the chiefs and people. GNA