About 199 metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) recently approved by their respective assemblies have up till Monday, July 24 to declare their assets.
Their names are expected to be submitted to the Attorney General on Monday, July 10 after which they will have a fortnight to file their assets declaration forms.
“That exercise will be monitored,” President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo warned MMDCEs on Wednesday, when he addressed an orientation programme organised for them.
The programme was under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
It was held at the Institute of Local Government Studies at Ogbojo, Accra.
The president charged the new local authorities to abide by a strict code of conduct.
“Chief Executives, change will be measured in better sanitation and a more wholesome environment; people will know there is change when the quality of local schools improve; they will know there is change when there are jobs for young people; and they will know there is change when officials come to work on time,” he said.
“The people in your districts, municipalities and metropolises are not looking for a different set of people from the last set to lord it over them. They are not looking for a new set of people to jump the red lights and traffic queues, instead of working to find solutions to the traffic jams for all of us.”
He asked the MMDCEs to be humble and kind towards their people as they represent central government.
“You, like all of us in central and regional government, have to live up to that expectation. It begins with the declaration of your assets as demanded by the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act, 1998, (Act 550), (Schedule 1 (V)),” he stated.
“It is important that the Ghanaian people understand that, for us, public service is exactly that, public service, not personal gain.”
President Akufo-Addo assured them of his trust and stressed that “the people of Ghana have put their hopes in us. We dare not betray their trust. This is a sacred opportunity. Join me to make this nation the happy and prosperous place it should be.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana