adminMarvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
GHANAIAN businesspeople have expressed interest in investing in Gwanda Town to tap the vast opportunities available, Suhum Municipal Assembly chief executive officer Samuel Fleischer-Kwabi has said.
Suhum is a town in Ghana.
Kwabi is leading a four-member delegation from Ghana that will be in Gwanda until today to conduct an International Peer Review (IPR) under the Strengthening Transnational Partnerships and Networks for Enhancing Local Governance Project (STRAP) funded by the European Union (EU).
He told journalists at a press conference held at the Gwanda municipality chambers on Monday that some businesspeople in Ghana have already shown interest in investing in Gwanda.
“We’ve started engaging with our local industries to make this a reality and some of them even expressed interest to come along with us to carry out some feasibility studies. This is the surest way to ensure the sustainability of this partnership,” he said.
He said Gwanda was an attractive investment destination with huge unexploited opportunities.
“We’ve seen that Gwanda has a lot of potential, it has vast growth potential. There’re potential investors eyeing the mining sector and the real estate industry,” said Kwabi.
STRAP was initiated by the Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) working together with the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) and Gambia Association of Local Authorities (GALGA).
Five local authorities from each of the three countries are participating in the programme.
In Zimbabwe the other local authorities taking part are Harare, Beitbridge,Gokwe and Chegutu.
The aim of the programme is to enhance quality service delivery through improved participation, efficiency, equity, transparency and accountability.
Gwanda and Suhum, entered into a partnership which involves assessing their local authorities on good governance.
Under the project, the municipalities share knowledge and seek to learn from each other’s experiences on issues to do with improved service delivery.
A delegation from the Gwanda municipality last month visited Ghana on a similar mission of peer review of Suhum Municipal Assembly.
“We’re working assiduously to consolidate our strengths as well as improving our weaknesses that were identified during the IPR. I’ve the firm belief that the two local authorities stand to gain from this IPR exercise because we’ve similar socio economic indicators which was the basis for pairing us.
“These partnerships and collaborations will be the springboard for Africa’s democratic development with the ripple effect enhancing the living standards of our citizenry thereby alleviating the abject poverty that’s predominant in our part of the world,” Kwabi said.
He said the partnership under the programme would help consolidate relations between the two countries.
“This partnership will not end with the phasing out of the project as we plan to take it to a next level where opportunities would be created for our local industries to open franchises in our respective towns ,” Kwabi said.
Gwanda Mayor Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu said peer reviews involving other 13 participating local authorities have been ongoing since mid-May and the individual reports from the reviews shall culminate in an overall final report of consolidated outcomes and recommendations towards the end of next month.
“We hope to learn the best from practical experiences of all these councils once this final report is produced and availed to all of us,” said Clr Ndlovu.
The team from Ghana comprised Suhum chief executive officer, Kwabi, the municipality’s co-ordinating director Gabriel Dari, the assistant director Mahamood Shakil and Eva Senam Dzegblor representing the National Association of Local Government in Ghana (NALAG).
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