ENSURE REP PROJECTS SUCCEED — MS TETTEH (PAGE 16)

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, has thrown a challenge to Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) whose areas have been selected to participate in the Rural Enterprises Project (REP) to ensure that the project was successfully implemented in their respective communities.
She maintained that the success or collapse of the REP, which was an integrated rural development package aimed at improving the living conditions in the rural areas and contribute to the reduction of poverty through increased self employment, depended largely on the beneficiary municipal and district assemblies.
Ms Tetteh threw the challenge at a day’s orientation seminar for new MDCEs and coordinating directors of participating districts of the REP at Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The REP, which is in its second phase of implementation, is mainly funded by the Government of Ghana (GoG), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), at a cost of about $29 million.
Currently, the project is being implemented actively in 53 districts countrywide and in all the regions. Since its inception in 1995, the REP has gradually evolved to become a strong force in employment generation and poverty reduction efforts in the country and achieving its objective of building a competitive micro and small scale enterprises sector in the participating district.
The minister pointed out that the main drivers of the REP were the districts while the ministry only acted as an overseer, adding that the commitment on the part of the MDCEs was the panacea to the success or otherwise of the project.
Ms Tetteh reminded the participants that during the run-up to the 2008 general election, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) made a lot of promises to the people of Ghana and that the pivot of all those promises was to make the country a better one.
She said Ghana could only be better when the people had jobs and subsequently had money in their pockets, and it was when they were satisfied with that, that they would acknowledge that indeed, the NDC government they voted for had brought a change into their lives.
I know your passion to make these promises work and I trust that you will create the opportunities for the people to have jobs and I know your qualities and capabilities and I want you to think about the promises that we made,” the minister stressed.
Ms Tetteh emphasised that “we as a government have the responsibility to show to Ghanaians that we meant what we said and that we would deliver better lives for the people and so we need to move away from mere rhetorics to realities”.
She urged the MDCEs to pay much more attention to the project by committing the needed resources towards its implementation in their respective districts since she said, the REP had a lot to show, adding that,“Your reward will be in the people having their lives changed to a better one”.
The minister declared, “Be at the forefront of making the project work and do not only make it work but also patronise the products of the REP to encourage your people to do same and let all of us give priority to made in Ghana goods but not to disregard or discard them”.
Mr Kwasi Atta-Antwi, the Project Coordinator, in a welcoming address disclosed that, the current phase of the project which started in 2003, was expected to end in 2011, saying that with about 58 per cent physical achievement and 45 per cent level of disbursement of donor funds as of March this year, there was a lot to be done in the few months ahead to complete the entire project.
He indicated that the institutional framework for the implementation of the project, had now been firmly established and a lot of impact was already being achieved in the areas of operation.
According to him, at the district level, Business Advisory Centres had been set up in each district with the full support and contribution from the district assembly and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).
Similarly, Mr Atta-Antwi said, 18 Rural Technology Facilities were being established at some selected districts and that, those centres and facilities were being resourced by the REP to serve as a one-stop shop for all Micro and Small Enterprise activities within the districts.
“From our experience, the sustainable functioning of these two main district-based implementing units can only be attained with the strong commitment, dedication, ownership and leadership of the district assemblies”, the project coordinator said.