Dr Emmanuel Debrah, Senior Lecturer at the Political Science Department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has called on assembly members to maintain close relationship with their electorates.
He said such a relationship would enable assembly members to collate the views and needs of their electoral areas for accelerated development.
Dr Debrah made the call whilst speaking on the topic: “Assembly member and the Assembly,” at a three-day orientation workshop on Local Governance at Wenchi.
The workshop, which was on the theme: “Local Governance and District Assembly Members,” was organised by the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) and sponsored by Konrad Adenuaer-Stiftung (KAS), a German political foundation.
It was attended by 120 assembly members drawn from Wenchi Municipality and Tain District in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Dr Debrah urged assembly members to link up with their communities in order to facilitate development, adding that their regular consultation with the people was very important to move the decentralisation system forward.
He expressed concern about how the district assembly concept was gradually turning into partisan politics.
Dr Debrah advised assembly members to obtain the model standing orders for District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies of the Local Governance Act 1993 (Act 462) to guide them.
Speaking on the topic: “Assembly Member and the Common Fund,” Mr Emmanuel Kwadwo Danso, Chief Operational Officer of the Common Fund Secretariat, deplored the manner at which most assemblies over-depend on the common fund allocated to them.
He asked the assembly members to help in local revenue mobilisation to supplement the common fund for development.
Mr Danso underscored the need for assembly members to refrain from parochial interests and focus on the development of their areas.
Mr Isaac Owusu-Mensah, KAS Representative in Ghana, said the Foundation had been in Ghana for the past 42 years and was helping to promote rule of law, human rights, social market economy and democracy.
He added that the Foundation was also aimed at promoting participation in local politics, particularly in the framework of decentralisation process.
Dr Owusu-Mensah expressed the hope that the structures of the Local Government system would succeed through the active participation of the assembly members.
Mr Mahama Nuriden, Municipal Deputy Co-ordinating Director noted that the decentralisation process started from the grassroots and appealed to the assembly members to attach importance to the workshop in order to make inputs into the assembly’s concept.
Mr Jimmy Yeboah Asiamah, Regional Secretary of GUTA said the orientation of the newly-elected and appointed assembly members would enable them to recognise and respect the status and roles of all actors in the district assembly’s system that would promote good governance and development.
He said the quest for accelerated economic and social development of communities was increasingly becoming a national agenda for sustainable development.
Nana Owusu-Yeboah Afari I, Dompemhene of the Wenchi Traditional Area who presided advised the assembly members to consider the workshop seriously since it would pave a way for them to contribute effectively during assembly sessions.