Zongo Development Secretariat’s mandate remains the same

The Coordinator for Zongo and Inner-Cities Development Secretariat (ZICDS) has assured all stakeholders of the defunct Ministry of Inner-Cities and Zongo Development(MICZD) that the mandate of the now secretariat remains the same as the Ministry.

Alhaji Ben Abdallah Banda gave this assurance when he appeared on the ‘Islamic Hour’ programme on Kumasi-based Wontumi TV hosted by Alhaji Salim Mansuru Banda in the Ashanti Region.

He reiterated that the mandate of the Secretariat was to bridge the development gaps in the Zongo and inner-city communities across the country.

He maintained that the mandate of the Zongo Development Fund (ZoDF) remain to ensure developments in the Zongo communities whereas the Secretariat ensures developments in the inner-city communities.

It is the reason the implementation of the household toilets in the inner-city areas were carried out by the defunct Ministry and not the Zongo Development Fund, he corrected.

In all the Secretariat has a supervisory role over the activities of the Zongo Development Fund just like the Ministry, he said.

The agenda of Zongo and inner-cities development is the vision of the president Nana Akufo-Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his New Patriotic Party administration, he argued.

As the Coordinator of the Secretariat, education will be my topmost priority to the people of the Zongo and inner-city communities across the country, he stressed.

He said about three thousand Arabic instructors are expected to be engaged to teach Arabic at the basic education levels in all Islamic schools across the country.

The Arabic instructors’ programme is one of the projects, ‘I readily want to roll out for the development of education in the Zongos, he explained.

This year the Secretariat intends to give out two hundred scholarships to needy but brilliant students in addition to the existing Cuban medical scholarship for Zongo people.

Another aspect of the programmes and projects lined- up for implementation, this year is the engagement of some three thousand youth from the Zongo and inner-city communities for skills training programmes.