Mr. Abraham Dwuma Odoom, made the announcement when opening the First Quarterly Meeting of the Metropolitan and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) in the Eastern Region at Koforidua.

He said the Ministry is also instituting periodic meetings between DCEs and MPs in each region. It is its desire to ensure that cordial relations existed between the two public services since they are both working for the development of the same people and area.

Mr. Dwuma Odoom stressed the need for them to establish cordial relations with their Regional Ministers to promote accelerated development of the region since the Ministry believed that the absence of antagonistic tendencies between the political leadership would enable the DCEs to remain focused on their developmental goals.

He announced that as part of the government's programme to tackle urban poverty, Koforidua and Akim Oda had been selected in the Eastern Region to benefit from the five-year Urban Poverty Reduction Programme(UPRP).

He said it has been realized that the existence of urban poverty is leading to many social vices, including armed robberies.

Mr. Dwuma Odoom announced that five districts in the region had been selected among 24 districts in the country to benefit from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), and mentioned them as Akuapem South, Yilo, Afram Plains, Kwahu South and Fanteakwa.

The Deputy Minister charged the respective DCEs to ensure that their districts collate and report on the necessary data on time to the Ministry towards the effective implementation of the programme since no late reporting of information would be tolerated.

The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr. Yaw Barimah, said the NPP had over the five years proved "even to our most acerbic critics" that it was more than capable to manage the affairs of the country. He said, it had spared no effort in modernizing all sectors of the economy including the ongoing road networks and provision of water, education, health and agricultural services, among others which he said, "amply demonstrate government's determination and commitment to bringing development to the doorsteps of all Ghanaians."

Mr. Barimah reminded the MDCEs that as representatives of the President, residents in the communities were looking up to them for guidance in development, which he noted, required them to remain focused on programmes that would improve the standard of living of the people through good governance, human resource development and accelerated poverty reduction.

He welcomed the institution of the quarterly meeting. It was, he said, time for them to design new vigorous ways of exploiting the region's human and natural resources for them to become more useful to the people.

"Let us, therefore, keep reminding ourselves that the rapid socio-economic development of our region cannot wait" and asked them to act quickly to attract more local and foreign investors into the region as well as aim at making Koforidua a major industrial hub and create jobs for the youth.