Neglect of RCCs in implementing priority projects unfortunate – Minister

Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, has described as unfortunate the neglect of the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) in the implementation of some priority development programmes and projects.

He said the situation was unacceptable, and, therefore, called for a change to ensure such programmes and projects impacted positively on the lives of the citizenry.

“It is unfortunate that some government agencies, in handling national programmes, deal directly with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Regions without recourse to the RCCs.

“But at the end of it all, requests for coordinated reports from the RCCs on programmes for which they were not involved,” he observed.

Mr Osei-Mensah, in a speech, read on his behalf, at the opening of a national workshop on the ‘Government Results Framework (2021-2024)’, being held in Kumasi, advocated a change in such practices.

He appealed to the Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat (MES) of the Office of the President to at all times use the existing structures and work closely with the RCCs to achieve the purpose for which development programmes and projects were executed.

The five-day workshop aims to review the Government Results Framework for High Priority Programmes (2017-2020) and develop a new framework that would focus on flagship programmes, spanning 2021-2024.

It has brought together key stakeholders nationwide to deliberate on programmes such as the ‘One Village, One Dam’, ‘One District, One Factory’, ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’, and ‘Fish Landing Sites’.

Others are the ‘Free Senior High School (SHS)’, ‘School Feeding’, ‘National Identification’ and ‘Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication’ Programmes, as well as the ‘Sino Hydro’ Project, Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), and Small-Scale Mining.

In referencing the essence of the workshop, Mr Osei-Mensah said there was the need to keep track of development policies, programmes and projects at every stage of their implementation.
This was critical in ensuring value for money in their execution, and also to inform decision-making relating to the implementation, the Minister noted.

Mrs Gifty Ohene-Konadu, the National Coordinator in charge of the MES of the Office of the President, reminded the participants that they had the responsibility to develop a framework with key performance indicators to facilitate effective tracking and reporting on the selected flagship programmes.

The expectation, she said, was that the key actors in the implementation of the programmes would own them to help achieve the intended objectives.

Dr Andrew Asibey, Senior Technical Director at the MES, explained that the workshop would discuss the key components of the new results framework.

They included the outcomes, milestones, key performance indicators, and the baseline to develop an action plan to enhance the design and implementation of the next phase of the Ghana Results Framework for High Priority Programmes.