Sekondi, July 4, GNA - Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, outgoing Western Regional Minister, on Tuesday officially handed over the administration of the Region to Mr Anthony Evans Amoah, the incoming Minister, at a short ceremony in Sekondi.

In a speech Mr Aidoo, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wassa Amenfi East, urged Mr Amoah to continue programmes initiated by his administration.

He said the notion that every work undertaken by all predecessors were bad, retarded progress and did not encourage initiative. Mr Aidoo asked the new Regional Minister to make a follow-up to the World Bank one million dollar facility to address the effects of galamsey in the Region and the acquisition of solar panels for the Regional Farmers' Housing Scheme that the World Bank agreed in principle to provide.

He said his administration initiated the Farmers' Housing Scheme with five billion cedis seed money promised by the Government. Mr Aidoo said the government had paid the first instalment of one billion cedis for the Scheme and this had not been utilized.

Mr Aidoo said his administration also decided to construct a new 10 billion cedi administrative block for the Regional Coordinating Council and contractors in the Region agreed to support the project with materials and services.

He further urged Mr Amoah to ensure the completion of the Regional Theatre, which was about 25 per cent complete. The outgoing Regional Minister said substantial central government assistance was needed to improve water supply to a number of rural communities in the Region.

He said although the Region was endowed with resources, it was saddled with conflicts and this was retarding progress. Mr Aidoo said chieftaincy conflicts; land litigation and problems associated with illegal mining were some of the teething problems that were militating against smooth administration of the Region. He said some of the chieftaincy litigations were dormant but were not extinct and advised Mr Amoah to "keep an eagle's eye" especially on the Dadieso chieftaincy problem that was likely to erupt again. "More disturbing is the enmity among chiefs in the Regional House of Chiefs" he noted and said he initiated the "Nkabom Festival" to address this problem.

Mr Amoah commended Mr Aidoo for his initiative to move the Region forward.

He promised to continue the good works of Mr Aidoo to accelerate the Region's development.