Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, the Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has directed the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to deepen accountability and citizenship active participation in local government.

He said doing so would build the confidence of the people and development partners and thereby facilitate accelerated national development.

He emphasised that for progressive development, the MMDAs ought to actively engage and ensure that development initiatives respond to the needs of the people, as the government empowered the local authorities.

Mr Ibrahim gave the directive when he led a team from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO) and German’s Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau(KfW) to assess the progress of the District Assemblies Common Fund-Responsiveness Factor Grant (DACF-RFG) Programme in the Bono Region.

Mr Ibrahim said the DACF-RFG had disbursed over $65 million within eight years for development projects focusing on water and sanitation, health and education, roads and electricity.

Miss Janine Stanzel, the Deputy Ambassador of the Switzerland and Head of Cooperation, SECO, said she was highly optimistic that the programme would improve service delivery in the local communities.