Ignorance Affecting Performance Of Local Assemblies

Ignorance of the decentralization system by Assembly members, Unit Committee members and majority of the staff of the district Assemblies have been blamed for the difficulties experienced in local governance administration. The tendency of people just going to vote to elect their local representatives during district assembly elections, but failing to demand accountability from these elected officials of the communities was also a matter of concern. Mr Ibrahim Baidoo, Assembly Member for Maanmomo Electoral Area in the Ashaiman Municipality said this at the second Youth Governance Forum organized by Nimba Community Support Services (Nimcoss), with support from Ibis- Ghana for residents of Ashaiman on Tuesday. The Governance Forum is a platform where residents dialogue with their political representatives and other duty-bearers for informed and participatory governance in the community. He said the refusal of many Assembly members to learn more about the decentralization concept was not helping matters, and admonished his colleagues to take part in seminars to upgrade their knowledge in decentralization to enable them to improve their performance. He called on the electorate to elect assembly members who are willing to sacrifice for the development of their electoral areas. According to the Assembly member the failure to pay tolls and other taxes imposed for purposes of generating revenue for developmental initiatives, and subsequently the failure on the part of many residents to honour invitations by the Assembly to discuss developmental issues was appalling. He also blamed the infiltration of partisan politics into the activities of the district assemblies and said it was inimical to the progress of the work of the local assembly and urged that it must be stopped.