Mr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, Central Regional Minister, has urged Municipal, Metropolitan and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to get technocrats on board and work closely with them in the Assemblies, for effective and accelerated development of their areas

He indicated that politicians come and go, but the technocrats would be there till retirement, and as movers and shakers of the Assemblies, any MMDCE who was not prepared to work closely with technocrats must be ready to face difficult challenges.

"The best thing for MMDCEs to do is to really get close to the technocrats, get to know what they do because at the end of the day, you need their expertise and advice to make you move forward, no matter how smart you are …they have been around for ages and may know what the MMDCEs will not know," he stated.

Mr. Quansah made the call when he met heads of government institutions and agencies of the Awutu Senya West and East Municipal Assemblies, as part of his 14-day tour to districts in the region.

He asked the MMDCEs to desist from the habits of calling for the transfer of some persons who they believed to be of the opposition parties, and advised them to put away their party colours and work with all and sundry, even when they noticed some of the technocrats were clearly not members of their party.

Mr Quansah asked the two Assemblies to offer the needed support to indigenous small-scale enterprises, and encourage the people of Awutu and its environs to consider going into small-scale farming, which he said would go a long way to contribute to the growth and development of the region.

He lamented that despite the numerous natural resources and the many raw materials in the region, it was still considered one of the poorest, and invited private investors to come and turn most of the raw materials into processed goods.

The Minister inspected some development projects being undertaken in the two districts, including the Municipal Assembly block, a circuit court complex, and administration blocks for the Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education Service all at Ofaakor in Kasoa.

He also inspected the CEDECOM-funded ICT and library centre, which was about 96 percent complete, and a six-unit classroom block at Amanfrom.

He was, however, disappointed at the rate of work done by Alpha consult, the contractors on site at the Bawjiase Senior High School, and asked them to step up their work else their contract would be revoked.

Mr. Quansah later paid a courtesy call on the chiefs in the area, during which the paramount chief of the Awutu Traditional Area, Abalaiade Agyemang Whettey Otabil the third, appealed to him to consider establishing a fire post at Kasoa, since there was no fire post at Awutu Senya East.

He expressed his appreciation to the President and the NDC government for the numerous development projects initiated in the area.