Ashiaman: Assemblymen threaten demo over delays in release of funds for dev’t

Seventeen Assembly Members in the Ashiaman municipality of the Greater Accra Region are threatening to go on a demonstration over delays in the release of funds for developmental projects in the municipality.

According to the Assembly Members, all projects in the Ashiaman municipality have been halted because of the lack of funds.

The Assembly Members are of the view that the assembly is in dire need of funds to execute projects to bring some reprieve to the people of Ashaiman.

The spokesperson for the group of Assemblymen, Nii Ayiku, said they are preparing to hit the streets for funds to be released to the assembly for development.

The spokesperson who is also the Assemblyman for Naa Amerley Electoral Area as well as the Chairman of the Security and Justice Committee of the Assembly expressed their frustrations on the Ghana Yensom morning show hosted by Odehyeeba Kofi Essuman on Accra 100.5 FM on Friday, April 21, 2023.

“The Assembly has one of the worst road networks in the country,” he noted, adding that the demonstration is not against the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Albert Okyere, but against the government.

He said the MCE is sometimes restless when people complain about the lack of developments as well as bad roads in the area.

''The government cannot tell us that the Ashiaman area is a stronghold of the National Democratic Congress so it will not see development.

"In the last elections, the NPP got over 43,000 votes which was more than the votes some Members of Parliament got in the stronghold of the NPP," he noted.

For his part, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Kwesi Adu Gyamfi, said the Assembly cannot construct one kilometre of an asphalt road.

The only thing the Assembly is capable of doing is patching and grading some of the dilapidated roads in the municipality, he explained.

"The Assembly has no means of revenue apart from the tolls collected from the market in the area," he remarked.

"Ashaiman area is not like other Assemblies where there are huge properties for the payment of property rates.

We don't have such properties in the Ashaiman municipality," he lamented.