It has come to light that funds disbursed to Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) in the Upper East Region and North East Regions for the construction of social amenities under the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project have been underutilized.
Zonal Accountant Mustapha Mahama said although over 100 million Ghana cedis was disbursed to MDAs in the Bolgatanga Zone, which comprises Upper East and North East Regions, only 31.9 percent of the disbursed funds have been utilized.
A breakdown of the figure indicates that of the 54.4 million disbursed to the 15 MDAs in the Upper East Region, about 16 million which constitute 30.8 percent of the disbursement has been utilized.
For the North East Region, 20.585 million was released to the 6 assemblies but just about 7 million was utilized.
This, the Zonal Accountant said, defeats the purpose for the implementation of the project and could the zone’s chances of accessing further funding in the future.
He, therefore, entreats the various MDAs to make use of the funds to address pressing needs of residents.
He made this revelation while giving an update on the 2023 allocation and utilization at a quarterly briefing meeting held at the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council.
The quarterly briefing meeting was held to assess the implementation of the $150 million World Bank credit facility aimed at reducing threat of terrorism, improve regional collaboration, socio-economic and climate change in 6 border regions and 48 districts.
For the Bolgatanga Zone, 265 sub physical projects have, so far, been undertaken and over 15,000 people given skills training and empowerment.
But out of this, Mr. Mahama said just 37 sub physical projects have been completed in both regions.
“It’s a big worry because we need to report. The World Bank will think that the monies we don’t have use for it or we don’t have the capacity to utilize the money. And if we don’t utilize it, we can’t ask for more,” he stated.
In his welcome address, Upper East Regional Minister Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih says the initiative could be a game changer if well implemented and urged all to embrace and support its roll out.
