After a careful study of the rationale behind the CDD/UNICEF league of districts exercise, I have come to the conclusion that, the CDD league of districts is not an accurate assessment of the performances of districts in Ghana.
This is because the criteria and indicators used for the ranking do not practically and legally fall within the domain of district, municipal or metropolitan assemblies in Ghana. The Six (6) indicators used by CDD/ UNICEF for this ranking which are, Education, health, sanitation, water, governance and security fall within the preview of other state institutions and not MMDA's per se.
On the issue of Education for instance, it is clear that although MMDA's may construct schools and other educational facilities, it doesn't lie in the powers of assemblies to appoint teachers and to supervise teaching and learning in our schools. the appointment of teachers and the supervision of teaching and learning is not the sole or main responsibility of MMDA's. Rather it is the GES and the ministry of Education that are mainly responsible for the appointment and training of teachers, as well as the supervision of teaching and learning in our schools. The role of MMDA's are therefore at best, auxiliary and ancillary to the responsibility of the GES and the ministry as far as the issue of education is concerned.
Also on the issue of health, whereas is it is true that assemblies construct CHIP compounds and other health facilities, the tooling and equipping of these health facilities, the employment of competent nurses, doctors and health workers, and the delivery of health services are not the duties of MMDA's at all. Rather it is the Ghana health service and the ministry of health that handles these critical issues of health in Ghana.
It will therefore be extremely unfair and inappropriate, to blame an MCE/ DCE for the abysmal performance of his assembly in the areas of health and Education as far as the CDD ranking is concerned. This is so because most of the core issues that pertain to these sectors are controlled and managed by other institutions of state and not MMDA's
However, Granted that the CDD's league of districts is even an accurate and credible assessment of MMDA's in Ghana, it cannot be said that the current position of The KMA on the list is a shambolic one. Rather, it is a massive improvement of the previous score of the KMA last year. The KMA has moved from its 160th position in 2014 to 71st position this year on the league of districts list. This can never be seen as a negative phenomenon by any reasonable mind.
The same argument can be made on issues of security and water and many others. For example, the day to day provision of security in our cities is the work of the the Ghana Police service. Under the laws of Ghana, the control of MMDA's over the Ghana police service as far as the provision of security for the general populace is concerned is a very limited one.
Finally, it is worthy of note that Kumasi has seen a lot of developments under the tenure of Hon. Kojo Bonsu in many important areas of our local economy like trade, recreation, tourism, transparency and good governance etc.
The current redevelopment of the Atonsu, Asawase and Tafo satellite markets, the Kejetia/central market reconstruction project, the Rattary park completed project and many other infrastructure projects currently ongoing in the health and education sectors of Kumasi lay credence to this fact.
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