NALAG to re-examine dissolution of District Assemblies “Move to prevent power vaccum”

The National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) will re-examine the dissolution of district assemblies to avoid creating a vacuum before the next batch of assembly members are elected, the Presiding Member (PM) of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Alfred Asiedu Adjei, has said.

Mr Adjei noted that although the tenure of office of assembly members were supposed to be four years, in most cases they were usually dissolved before the next election creating a vacuum that impeded the smooth running of the assemblies.

He stated this at this year’s Greater Accra conference for PMs in Accra.

The conference, which was on the theme:”Actualising environmental sanitation in Greater Accra: the role of PMs” was to build the capacity of members on the functions of PMs to accelerate development in the assemblies.

Constitution
Mr Adjei said if the 1992 Constitution had spelt out that it should be a four-year tenure for assemblies, then it should be followed to a logical conclusion, without creating gaps.

He explained that in most cases, the assemblies were dissolved some weeks before the election, thereby rendering them redundant for a while, which, he noted, did not augur well for democratic governance.

The PM called for frequent training of assembly members for them to be acquainted with the rules and regulations of their profession.

“I have decided to choose the path of training or capacity building for PMs, assembly members and unit committee members because from what I see and hear, many honourable members do not have a thorough understanding of the local government system.” he observed.

Mr Adjei, who is also the Secretary of the Greater Accra PMs, said after the creation of new assemblies, only assembly members were trained neglecting unit committee members and other staff of the sub-structures.

“It will be a good idea, if unit committee members and the sub-structures are included in the training, but it should please be adequate”,he noted.
A representative of the Greater Accra Regional Minster, Baba Seidu, encouraged the PMs to continue serving the country loyally, despite the challenges the country was going through.

He announced that the Ashanti, Western and Northern regions were also making moves to initiate sanitation programmes as a sequel to the Greater Accra regional minister’s “operation clean your frontage” initiative.

The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, who was represented by Sampson Akwetey, said rapid population growth and urbanisation had contributed to sanitation challenges in the cities and urban areas and called on assemblies to re-strategise against filth.

He called on the assemblies to form a taskforce to arrest people engaged in the destruction of sanitation facilities in the cities.

Source: GNA