ARTICLE: Akufo-Addo and Bawumia deserve commendation for DRIP initiative
The DRIP programme is designed to empower metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies by giving them the equipment they need to rehabilitate and maintain roads within their area
The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration has, once again, delivered on a promise to supply district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies with equipment and machinery that would keep our roads motorable all year round, under the newly launched DRIP programme.
It would be the height of injustice not to also commend Honourable Irene Naa Torshie Addo-Lartey for supervising this all-important programme.
As head of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), Naa Torshie made sure that her agency took up the challenge and responsibility of providing this equipment and machinery.
By this singular act, Naa Torshie has shown that the District Assemblies Common Fund that she leads can be used to achieve more than we have been seeing over the years.
Dubbed the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), the scheme is designed to empower metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) with the resources and equipment that they need to rehabilitate and maintain roads within their area.
This initiative, proposed by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia a few years ago, aligns with the government’s commitment to decentralisation, providing local authorities with the tools to effect meaningful change.
Quality and accountability
The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has commissioned a comprehensive fleet of 2,240 pieces of equipment, including motor graders, backhoes, rollers, wheel loaders, bulldozers, tipper trucks, concrete mixers, water tankers and low-bed haulage trucks. These machines are expected to play a crucial role in the nationwide improvement of road infrastructure.
A four-member committee in each MMDA will oversee implementation of the programme, ensuring high standards of quality and accountability. The committees will include technical officers from the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development and the Ministry of Roads and Highways, along with a representative from the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces. The metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) will chair these committees.
The job creation potential of DRIP is projected to be 10,000 jobs for mechanics, engineers and artisans. At the commissioning and handover ceremony for the new equipment, President Akufo-Addo described the nation’s road network as the “circulatory system of our economy”, crucial for commerce, education and health care.
The DRIP, as previously described, is designed to empower metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) with the resources and equipment to rehabilitate and maintain roads in their areas, without repeated recourse to central departments. The initiative aligns with the government’s commitment to decentralisation, providing local authorities with the tools to effect meaningful change.
Irene Naa Torshie Addo’s exemplary leadership has led to the fruitfulness of this important initiative of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia.
P K Sarpong
The author writes the popular column “Whispers from the Corridors of the Thinking Place”
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