The Foundation for Female Photojournalists, a non-profit organization involved in advocacy to provide accessible development information to women groups, has started a programme aimed at improving efficiency of Assembly members.
The programme which is in two phases aims at specifically advocating for salaries for assembly members while encouraging them to meet regularly with their electorate to know their problems to enable them to channel them to the appropriate policy making body.
Ms Yaganoma Baatuolkuu, Project Coordinator, at a meeting with selected assembly members in Accra on Monday, noted that there was inefficiency at the district assembly level which did not promote development.
She, however, attributed the inefficiency of the district assemblies to lack of remuneration for assembly members who also did their work anyhow.
"The duties of assembly members should not be seen as voluntary otherwise they do the work voluntarily," she pointed out.
She further explained that the absence of a substantive income or reward for assembly members in a form of logistics like transportation, communication and basic cost effective sitting allowances had created an avenue for laxity, lack of commitment and inefficiencies.
Ms Baatuolkuu said such a situation also acted as a disincentive to attract quality human resource to the district assemblies adding that in some assemblies the only time members were given allowance was when they attended the quarterly and monthly sub-committee meeting, the allowance could be as low as GHC1.00
Mr Simon Manu, a programme facilitator at IBIS West Africa, an NGO, advised assembly members to make efforts to know their rights and responsibilities to enable them to promote development in the country.
He said development could not be achieved when the central government was in Accra and was not in contact with the people on the ground and explained that the only contact of the government at the district level was with assembly members.
Mr Manu urged assembly members to be proactive to enable the country to achieve the development that all Ghanaians craved for.