10 new district assemblies to be created

The Minister said in recognition of the importance of the decentralisation programme, the government has decided to create 10 new district assemblies in the country. Two of the new districts have been approved for the Upper East Region, one at Garu-Tampane and the other in the Talensi-Nabdam area. Mr Kodwo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development said on Monday when he interacted with residents of Bugre in the Bawku East District where he made a brief stopover on his way to Garu-Tempane.

Mr Wiredu said the smooth functioning of every district assembly is vital to the success of the government's decentralization programme. He said District Assemblies constitute "government" at the local level, and in areas where those structures are not firmly established, development would certainly be impeded.

Mr Wiredu said alongside these new developments, government was also pumping large sums of money to the districts for poverty reduction. He said the government had recently transferred one billion cedis each to all the 110 districts under the HIPC Fund, while 700 million cedis had also been allocated to each district assembly for poverty alleviation. Another 500 million cedis had been transferred to the bank accounts of each assembly from the Common Fund.

The Local Government Minister noted, however, that in spite of the numerous packages the Bawku East District was not getting the needed development because of absence of a substantive District Chief Executive (DCE) and a Presiding Member for the assembly. He told the people of the area to hold their assembly members responsible by putting pressure on them to resolve the current impasse over a DCE, so as to enable the district get its fair share of development.

Mr Wiredu said the membership of Unit Committees would be reduced from 15 to seven to make the committees function more effectively. Mr Joseph Akudbilla, Independent Member of Parliament for Garu-Tempane, told the residents that since their wish for a separate district had now been fulfilled, it was up to them to make the new district viable. He said they could only do so by putting their differences aside and working together to support government's efforts to develop the area.