ASSEMBLY MEMBERS MUST BE SENSTITIVE — CHIREH (PAGE 17, SEPT 28)

ASSEMBLY Members in the country have been urged to be assertive in calling for adequate transfer of power and resources to the local level to ensure an effective decentralisation process in the country.
Such a move would also facilitate the empowerment of assembly members to actively take part in decision-making processes that affected development at the local level.
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, who made the call, stated that “as representatives of the people at the local level, you must agitate for your right and not expect anyone to give it to you”.
He was speaking at the first ordinary meeting of the third session of the Akuapem South District assembly in the Eastern Region last Friday.
“The transfer of power to the assembly members will effectively ensure equity in sharing and balance in development projects to move forward the decentralisation process across the country,” Mr Chireh said.
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development said assembly members, as representatives of the people at the grass root level, were in a better position to determine which development projects and programmes would improve the lots of the people.
“However, this is not the case as in most instances almost every development project and programme for your electoral areas are determined by authorities in Accra and the regional capitals, sometimes without even seeking your inputs,” Mr Chireh stated.
According to him, the separation of decentralised local service from the central civil service would strengthen the capacity of personnel at the local level, provide more resources and give assembly members a greater leverage in order to carry out their development programmes.
He urged the assembly members to identify development projects, especially those in the areas of education, sanitation, roads to improve the standard of living of the people.
He also urged assembly members to remain neutral and impartial to matters affecting the metropolitan, municipal and districts to ensure meaningful development at the local level.
He gave the assurance that the government would soon review the decentralisation process, after 20 years of implementation, to deepen local level democracy and accelerate development at the grass-roots level.
For his part, the Municipal Chief Executive of Akuapem South, Dr Godfried Osei-Bonsu Twum, said out of the projected GH288,900.00 to be collected, the assembly as of July 2009 had collected GH158, 143.25, representing 54.7 per cent of the projected figure.
He said notwithstanding the success chalked up, efforts were being made to revamp the revenue mobilisation effort and cited the setting up of a task force to mop up revenue in the areas of development levy and property rate, acquiring new pick-up cabins for revenue mobilisation, setting targets for revenue collectors and monitoring their performance, among others.