Avoid Needless Politics And Hold MMDCEs Accountable – Dr Ato Arthur Charges Assembly Members

News

Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, Head of the Local Government Services

Avoid Needless Politics And Hold MMDCEs Accountable – Dr Ato Arthur Charges Assembly Members

Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, Head of the Local Government Service (LGS) has charged Assembly Members across the 260 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to shelve their political colorations and hold their respective assemblies accountable on issues affecting the people in their electoral areas.
This he opined would ensure transparency, efficiency, judicious use of funds and accelerated development at the local level, saying, “th progress of the MMDAs is the progress of Ghana”.
Speaking on Wontumi TV/FM on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 as part of his official visit to the various assemblies in the Ashanti Region, the Head of Service said, the role of Assembly Members in advancing the decentralization process and the development of the local assemblies was very crucial.
As defined in Section 16 of the Local Governance Act, 2016 — Act 936, Assembly members were obliged to maintain close contact with, consult the people of their electoral areas on issues to be discussed in the District Assembly, collate their views, opinions, and proposals; and present those views to the Assembly during meetings.
Dr. Ato Arthur however expressed utmost disappointment about the low level of commitment of majority of the assembly members in meeting the expectations of their people.
He said majority of assembly members do not stay in their electoral areas or districts, and thus find several excuses to absent themselves from assembly meetings.
Conversely, Dr Ato Arthur acknowledged the numerous challenges most assembly members go through as they become the first point of contact during social activities in their electoral areas.
He expressed the need for assembly members to be resourced to enable them to work effectively and also admitted the impossibility for assembly members to be placed on government payroll, and recommended the introduction of a certain sustainable fund in the assembly to resource assembly members.
Dr. Ato Arthur reaffirmed his support for the election of MMDCEs and election of assembly members on political lines, since politics had already eaten deep into the district level elections.
The Head of Service and his technical team are currently touring the country to carry out assessment on how the various assemblies had performed in the performance contract they signed in 2020.
He noted that some assemblies were doing well with their performance contract and encouraged them to do more to promote the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda of the Government and prioritise sanitation management, revenue mobilization and the development needs of the people.