AMA members back home from USA

Accra, May 4, GNA - Ten members of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) who left Accra on April 19 for South Carolina, USA, to study how to strengthen democracy and empower people at the local level arrived back home on Tuesday.

The group, the first batch of many to be trained, were taken through research and observed sessions on how South Carolina State Laws are developed and passed.

Their trip, which is at the invitation of the South Carolina House of Representative, was made possible by a recent House Resolution that called for Ghanaian and South Carolinian legislators exchange programme to roll.

The Mayor of Accra, Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije who met them on arrival at the airport, said he was hopeful they would bring their experiences to bear on the AMA's work.

Mr Addo Biney, the Presiding Member who was on the trip, said one striking thing they learnt was that an individual or pressure group could write to the house for the passage of a bye law unlike in Ghana where it is the duty of assembly men to bring it to the floor of the house.

He said when considered and approved it took immediate effect and noted that they would exploit the possibility of replicating it at AMA, adding that they would need to educate the people to that effect. Mr Thomas Ashong, the Assembly Member of Darkuma West Area, said he was enthused about the high sanitation practiced there and the placement of rest rooms at short intervals in addition to litters bins. He said he was hopeful that their experiences would enhance the work of the Assembly and improve sanitation in Accra.

Training of members of the delegation took place at the State House from Tuesdays to Thursdays, the days the house sits. The group visited historical black colleges and universities and neighbouring towns.

They also toured Washington DC, Charleston and Atlanta and attended lectures at Benedict College on the History of Civil Rights Movements and the African Diaspora in the Americas.