Assembly Members Build Capacity On Local Governance

By Emmanuel Yaw Acheampong

Assembly Members in the Birim Central Municipality of the Eastern region have participated in a day's capacity building workshop on the District Assembly concept and the local government system.

The participants were taken through functions of the district assembly, the composition of the assembly, functions of the various sub-committees, the structure of the assembly, types of committees and the model standing orders.

The Eastern Regional Economic Planning Officer, Mr. Jonathan D. Awuah, urged them to keep abreast with the legal instrument of the assembly concept to empower themselves and contribute effectively at assembly sessions.

He regretted the lack of substructures in many of the districts in the country and urged the participants to advocate for the creation of the substructures since they were the means for full and effective participation at the grassroots.

He advised the assembly members to work effectively with the unit committees to monitor contractors, draw community action plans and use them to advocate for development instead of relying solely on the district assembly.

He said members were expected to educate the electorate on government policies and assembly's programmes and projects, lobby the assembly for development projects in their electoral areas, participate actively in assembly and sub-committee meetings, liaise with public and private institutions to attract resources and assistance and take part in communal and development activities in their respective communities.

The Human Resource Manager of the Assembly, Ms. Christiana Dugbazah, explained in an interview that, assembly members are at the heart of the decentralization system, hence, the decision to organize the programme to equip them with the requisite knowledge and skills about the operations of the District Assembly to function effectively.

She said as representatives of their electoral areas, assembly members have to work diligently devoid of political colorisation to improve on the living conditions of the people.

She said some members of the assembly have limited knowledge of the workings of the local government system, therefore, called on management to periodically release funds to organize such programmes to build their capacities.

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