President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated his commitment to paying modest allowances to Assemblymen and women, a promise he made during his campaign.

“I did promise to pay modest allowances to our Assemblymen and women. I am committed to that promise,” President Mahama said while delivering his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament last Thursday.

President Mahama noted that decentralisation had been at the heart of the country’s governance system, yet key players in the process such as Assemblymen and women often faced neglect and inadequate compensation.

Election of MMDCEs

The President also reaffirmed his commitment to the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) on a non-partisan basis.

This move is in line with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto promise to elect MMDCEs when voted into power. 

Recall

President Mahama promised to pay assembly members an allowance when he is elected president in the 2024 elections.

Mr Mahama said that when he addressed the media in Bole in the Savannah Region after he cast his vote in the 2023 district-level election held on December 19, 2023.

During the interaction with the media, he acknowledged the important role that people within the local governance structure played and indicated that they needed financial support to enable them to effectively carry out their duties.

“As I have said, assembly members carry great responsibilities, and if I am elected President, we will pay them an allowance so that it helps them carry out the duties they have been elected for,” he said.

Mr Mahama added that his government would take decentralisation seriously and ensure that the District Assembly Common Fund disbursement increases from five per cent to seven per cent.

“If God smiles on us and we win the 2024 elections, we are going to take decentralisation seriously, the rest of the ministries seriously, and the rest of the MMDAs that are still centralised.

We are going to complete the decentralisation so that we truly hand over power to the people at the local government level. Until we get our decentralisation right, Ghana is not going to go anywhere, so we are going to take it seriously,” he said.