Bolgatanga against politicisation of District Assemblies

Bolgatanga, Sept. 30, GNA - Participants at a stakeholders' meeting organised by Ibis Ghana, a Danish Development organisation, have expressed concern about the politicisation of the District Assembly Elections, which they said is affecting development projects at the community level. The Review meeting was on the Public Participation in Local Governance (PPLG) Programme.

It attracted participants from the District and Municipal Assemblies and Civil Society Organisations from the Region to review what the partners of Ibis had done so far in the implementation of the PPLG. They expressed surprise that most District Chief Executives are sponsoring people to contest District Assembly elections, which they noted was a breach of the concept of the Assembly. The meeting also expressed dissatisfaction that most of the District Assemblies in the Region are not meeting the 30 per cent quota of appointee= s to the Assemblies.

They said there are also few women elected to the Assembly, hence the need to build their capacity and confidence. There was consensus that the town hall meetings should be organised at the District and the substructure levels, whilst Unit Committee members should be paid some allowances from the revenue they collect. Mr Emmanuel Abelwine, Programme Director of IBIS Ghana, said governmen= t should issue a policy statement to state whether District Assembly Election= s are partisan or not. The Deputy Regional Minister, Mrs Lucy Awuni, assured the stakeholders that she would ensure that the town hall meetings are organised at the District level. She called on the District Assemblies to adopt pragmatic measures to boost revenue generation.