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Vice-President Amissah-Arthur swearing in the new assembly members in Tamale.

Veep charges assemblies to educate constituents

The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, has charged the reconstituted metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to sensitise their people to the sanitation by-laws in their respective areas, to prevent them from falling foul of the law.

 He intimated that the government had initiated discussions with the Chief Justice for the creation of sanitation courts to prosecute sanitation offenders.

Inaugurating the reconstituted Tamale Metropolitan Assembly in Tamale on Tuesday, the Vice-President also asked assembly members to live up to their responsibilities by contributing their quota to promote the well-being of their people.

 

“Your election and appointment as assembly members show that your people have a lot of confidence in you and so will be expected to live up to great responsibilities,” Mr Amissah-Arthur added.

In all, 57 assembly members, 19 of whom were government appointees, took the oath of allegiance, the oath of office and the oath of secrecy.

Unfortunately, two of the elected assembly members could not be sworn-in because one passed away recently, while the election of the other member is being contested in court.

Responsibilities

Describing the role of the assembly members as crucial, the Vice-President said the Local Government Act spelt out their duties as including maintaining close contact with their electoral areas, as well as collating the views of the people to the assemblies.

Mr Amissah-Arthur said the unique role they played as assembly members in exercising their functions at the grassroots level helped to promote good governance, peace and democracy.

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 Caution

The Vice-President cautioned officials of the Town and Country Planning Department, the Survey Department and the Lands Commission to adhere to the rules and regulations governing the allocation of plots and ensuring they were developed in accordance with designated land use.

That, he explained, was to avoid the danger of flooding and the other issues associated with insanitary conditions.

He asked MMDAs to work towards building a diversified and commercially oriented agricultural sector to address the issue of rural poverty.

Earlier, the Coordinating Director of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Sheihu Kadir, who deputised for the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Alhaji Hanan Gondado, in his remarks, had described Tamale as a destination of choice in view of its fast-paced development.

He expressed the hope that the reconstituted assembly would further spur Tamale on towards its revenue mobilisation drive and improved sanitation for the development of the metropolis.

Background

The District Assembly Elections which were originally scheduled for March 3, 2015, were cancelled as a result of the Supreme Court’s directive to the Electoral Commission (EC) to prepare a new legislation to be passed by Parliament before the filing of fresh nominations for the elections.

The EC was given GH¢317 million to organise the elections but the commission was, on February 27, directed by the court to cancel all preparations towards the elections and start everything afresh.

That compelled the EC to schedule September 1, 2015 as the new date for the elections.

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