Madam Paulina Patience Abayege, the Upper East Regional Minister on Tuesday presented 533 motorbikes to Assembly members in all 15 Municipal and District Assemblies of the Region to facilitate their activities.
At a brief handing over ceremony, Madam Abayege said the motorbikes were acquired through due procurement processes.
She commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the gesture, and said “he is not just a talker, when he promises, he delivers. We have seen what is happening and this is one of the things.”
Madam Abayege said the Region was the third to receive the motorbikes with Northern and Central Regions being first and second recipients respectively.
“We also want to thank the Minister for Local Government and the Administrator of the Common Fund for working together to ensure that these motors come to the Region.”
The Minister said the terrain of the Region was rugged, and the motorbikes would be a form of encouragement to the Assembly members because their work was voluntary.
She appealed to them to ensure their maintenance and urged them to observe safety measures and always use their crash helmets.
Mr Williams Aduum, Dean of the Municipal and District Chief Executives in the region, urged the Assembly Members to use the motorbikes for the purposes of which they were delivered to enhance their work.
Mr David Adoliba, Dean of Presiding Members for the Assemblies, who received the motorbikes on behalf of Assembly Members, said, “if decentralization is important, then we should find ways of getting the means of transport for the Assembly Members to be able to get to their communities.”
He said it was important to motivate members of the Assemblies through such fringe benefits, and noted that Members were supposed to be in touch and to commune to their electoral areas, adding that, members sometimes used their private motorbikes to transport sick people in their electoral areas to health facilities.
He thanked government for the gesture and advised his colleagues, especially those in the remote areas to use the motorbikes with care.
