Ahwoi says some unit committees are not properly constituted

Accra (Greater Accra) 16 June '99

Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development said on Tuesday that unit committees with less than eight elected members, cannot operate because they are deemed not to be properly constituted.

All the 110 district assemblies have been advised accordingly, he said.

Mr Ahwoi announced that 3,724 out of the 16,000 unit committees in the country are affected and the Electoral Commission is making the necessary arrangements re-run elections in these units after clearing the budgetary implications with the Ministry of Finance.

The Minister was answering a question on whether unit committees with less than the required 10 elected members can operate, and if not so, when would nation-wide elections be conducted to get the full complement of elected unit committee members in the affected units.

Mr Kwakye Addo, NDC-Affram Plains South, posed the question during "Question Time" in Parliament.

Asked how much the Electoral Commission is seeking from the Ministry of Finance to conduct the elections in the affected unit committees, Mr Ahwoi said, "the Electoral Commission deals directly with the Ministry and it will not be possible for me to say".

To a suggestion that development committees should be put in place to fill the vacuum created by affected unit committees, Mr Ahwoi said the Ministry has had such an experience before where such committees had turned out to be the personal property of an assembly member.

"We don't think we want to revisit such an experience".

He disagreed with a suggestion that the 40 per cent voter turn out at the last district assembly elections was low and said the figure is the second highest in the country.

He noted that some people make an unfair comparison between district level elections and general elections and said if there should be any comparison at all, it should be between voter turn out in the current district assembly elections and the previous ones.

Asked whether the Ministry would consider making voting at district level elections compulsory as it obtains in some countries, Mr Ahwoi said: "I am not sure that I am competent to answer this question.

"In any case, we have not, and will not consider compulsory district level elections."

Nana Akomea, NPP-Okaikoi South, wanted to know what criterion is used to select beneficiary communities of the Community Access Improvement Programme and when Bubuashie, in the heart of Accra, would benefit from it and other programmes of urban renewal.

Replying, Mr Ahwoi said he believed the Member was referring to the "Community Up-grading Project", which is a component of the Urban Environmental Sanitation Project of Urban IV Project, supported by the World Bank.

He explained that an urban up-grading study undertaken in 1992, identified communities severely deficient in basic infrastructure services, and these communities were ranked according to the severity of their needs as well as prior demonstration of initiative and cohesiveness.

Mr Ahwoi said 17 prioritised communities in Accra, including Bubuashie, were listed under the 1992 study adding that based on the available World Bank resources, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) made the final selection of three communities.

He mentioned the three communities as Old Teshie, West Maamobi and Sukura and said Bubuashie, as well as the 13 other prioritised communities, would be considered when funds being sought by the Ministry becomes available.