Kumasi, Oct. 1, GNA - Mr Opoku Manu, Ashanti Regional Minister, has asked Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to be assertive and demand explanation for various sums of money deducted from their shares of the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) by the Administrator of the Fund.

He said their failure to ask questions had contributed to the continuous deductions at source for items and projects, which the assemblies might have no idea, budgeted or approved as expected by the law. Mr Manu was speaking at a meeting with the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in Kumasi on Wednesday. The Regional Minister asked the assemblies to challenge the basis for the deductions which were affecting the flow of funds thereby crippling the implementation of development projects and programmes at the local level. The meeting was at the instance of GJA and the KAB Governance Consult, to solicit the support of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and assemblies in the Region to assist Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

It is part of the GJA's advocacy programme aimed at using the media to strengthen support for SMEs to develop and to grow in order to reduce poverty. Mr Manu said SMEs played significant role in poverty alleviation and revenue generation at the local level, and there was, therefore, the need for them to receive the needed support to enable them to expand to provide employment for the people. He said the RCC would encourage the assemblies to provide the right atmosphere for SMEs to grow, and called on all to support any such move. Mr Akwasi Afriyie Badu, Chief Executive of KAB Governance Consult, said advocating increased support for SMEs at the local level was necessary because the sector had the potential to reduce poverty in the country. He said the Project was part of GJA's social responsibility to ensure that SMEs developed to reduce poverty, and urged the assemblies to be creative and to support SMEs.

Mr Bright Blewu, General Secretary of GJA, said the media considered SMEs important for poverty reduction in the country. He said the GJA was committed to supporting SMEs and that the Association would continue to work to ensure that economic entities received the needed assistance. 01 Oct. 09