The government has decided to move oversight over Zongo and Inner City Development from the Zongo and Inner Cities Development Ministry to the presidency.
This is a policy to empower the Zongo Development Fund (ZDF) Secretariat to spearhead the Akufo-Addo government’s Zongo development agenda.
Prior to the 2016 elections, the NPP promised to establish the Zongo Development Fund to solely focus on the development of Zongo communities.
But following the party’s victory in the 2016 elections, President Akufo-Addo added a bonus by establishing a full ministry to partner the Zongo Development Fund Secretariat to execute the vision of developing such communities.
After trying the dual roles in the first term of the Akufo-Addo administration, government has decided to scrap the Ministry and fully back the ZDF to continue with the Zongo development mission.
Jubilee House insiders have disclosed that the main reason for scrapping the ministry is to fully empower the statutory Zongo Development Fund to lead policy direction and implementation, as well as manage the fund, as established by law.
As part of the restructuring, Jubilee House sources have also disclosed that a Presidential Coordinator for Zongo Development will be appointed in the coming days, and his task will be a direct liaison between the Office of the President and the Zongo Development Fund Secretariat.
The President, our sources disclosed, will in the coming days name the Special Coordinator, who will, together with the Chief Executive Officer and the ZDF board, lead the Zongo Development Agenda.
The establishment of the Zongo Development Fund has been credited with the rapid provision of educational opportunities, human development and infrasture development in Zongo communities.
In the past 4 years, the Fund has provided classroom blocks, water systems, drainage systems, access roads, bridges in a number of Zongos, as well as offered entrepreneurial and vocational training opportunities to many young people.
In the area of education, the ZDF has provided tertiary grants to over 200 people, as well as provided scholarships to 40 brilliant but needy students from Zongo communities to study medicine in Cuba.