Assembly Members urged to be focused

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday February 15, 2011.
A Senior Programme Manager with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), Isaac Owusu-Mensah has tasked newly-elected assembly members to ignore partisanship and work hard to bring accelerated development to the various communities.

He said even though most assembly members in many ways received support from the various political parties, it was imperative for them to seek the interest of the people before other political considerations, adding, “You have an opportunity to make a mark for posterity.”

Mr. Owusu-Mensah was speaking at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region during a two-day workshop organized by the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) with support from KAS to explain the concept of local governance and rural development to newly-elected assembly members.

He said the various communities need urgent and rapid development and there was the need for assembly members to support government and other civil society organizations to make the country better.

Presenting a paper on “The Assembly Member and the Assembly System”, Gloria Ofori-Boadu, a gender activist, who was a facilitator at the function, urged the assembly members- elect to make proposals and inputs during the preparation of assembly’s budget.

She said “as a representative of the people, the assembly member is expected to hold periodic meetings with the electorate to know their needs and present them to the general assembly for redress.”

She said the time has come for assembly members to provide adequate information about their communities to the assemblies, lobby the assemblies on behalf of the communities and initiate and take part in communal and other developmental activities.

Emmanuel Danso of the District Assemblies Common Fund, who spoke on how assembly members could utilize common funds, urged members to follow the guidelines for disbursing funds and also assist the assemblies in the revenue collection drive.

Stephen Agyemang-Badu of the Techiman Municipal Assembly said many communities are endowed with human and material resources for development but it is only those who exhibit dynamic leadership that can bring change to the people.

Isaac Osei-Antwi, former Chief Executive of the Techiman Municipal Assembly, who commented on the relationship between the assembly member and the chief executive, called on them to be tactful, committed, humane and respectful to ensure that the people enjoy the benefits of good governance.