... Over Contract Awards

Wenchi -- Deputy minister for Presidential Affairs and MP for Wenchi East, Alhaji Muctar Bamba, has cautioned the management of the Wenchi district assembly to comply with statutory requirements and procedures in the effective operations of the district tender board.

He urged that any attempt to sidestep any of the guidelines must be resisted to ensure transparency and accountability.

Alhaji Bamba sounded the caution when he addressed the first ordinary meeting, for the year, of the assembly at Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo region. He regretted that the assembly had failed to invite him as a member of the board to attend any of the meetings of the board.

This, according to Alhaji Bamba, is totally unacceptable and must be stopped. The minister expressed concern about what he called the snail pace of socio-economic development of the district and urged assembly members to redouble their efforts, as posterity would not forgive them, if they fail to lay the proper foundation for the area's accelerated development.

In his sessional address, the district chief executive for Wenchi, Joe Danquah, expressed concern about the delay in the drilling of 29 boreholes, which job was awarded on contract to the Wenchi Village Water Project and the Community Water and Sanitation Project.

He said the poor performance of the contractor had been identified as the cause of delay and cautioned that his activities are being strictly monitored for possible termination of the contract.

Mr. Danquah announced that the government had approved the first batch of HIPC projects to be constructed in four communities, while the second batch would soon take off.