Collaborate with traditional authorities - members of MMDAs advised
Members of the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been charged to collaborate with traditional authorities in their area for peaceful coexistence and development.
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The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Haneg Planning Consult, Mr Pat Eghan, who announced this, explained that although assembly members were elected by their people to serve, collaborating with the traditional authority was the surest way of ensuring development for the people.
“As partners in development for the same people, a good collaboration between the two was crucial in the search for development and peace for the people and the nation as a whole,” he added.
Mr Eghan disclosed this to the Daily Graphic at a two-day training workshop for members of the Bosomtwe District Assembly at Kokoado near Kuntanase in the Ashanti Region.
The training was aimed at empowering both old and new members of the assembly to acquaint themselves with the tools and regulations guiding their work to help them work efficiently.
Some of the issues discussed at the training were the functions of the district assembly, the assembly concept, the model standing orders that guide the members in their day-to-day activities and other decentralisation concepts.
The CEO reminded the assembly members to create an enabling environment around them by being nice to chiefs, area council members and other stakeholders in their chain of development.
Mr Eghan urged assembly members to give feedback to their people after attending meetings to avoid the situation where the electorate who voted them into power would be left in the dark due to lack of communication.
Call for review
The CEO stated that there was a need to review Act 462 of the 1992 Constitution which does not make any provision for the replacement of an assembly member after the death of one.
This, according to the CEO, is having a very negative effect on development, since a gap is always left behind for the period until a new assembly election was conducted to replace the dead assembly member.
The consultant urged assembly members to educate their electorate on the need to pay their taxes and the benefits to be derived from such tax payment.
He urged the assemblies to put in place measures to enhance the collection of the right internally generated funds from the people, since such a feat could enhance development in the area and the country as a whole.
The District Chief Executive for Bosomtwe, Madam Veronica Antwi-Adjei, said capacity building was very crucial in the development of every institution, and thus urged the assembly members to take the training seriously to strengthen the nation’s decentralised process.
She mentioned waste disposal as the major challenge confronting the district and urged the assembly members to work hard to look for solutions to those challenges.
The Coordinating Director for Bosomtwe, Mr Kingsley Kofi Sencherey, assured the assembly members that the assembly would be organising similar training sessions for them and their staff to sharpen their skills to deliver their roles effectively.