No Office Acommodation For MPs In Districts

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has no plans to provide Members of Parliament with office accommodation in their respective District Assemblies. However, district assemblies would be encouraged to have a common room which could be used by MPs and assembly members when the need arises.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko in Parliament on Tuesday in an answer to a question as to whether his Ministry has plans to provide offices for MPs.

Mr Adjei-Darko said MP's are ex-officio members of the District Assembly in which their constituencies are situated, and as a general rule, they are not members of the Executive Committees of the assemblies, which are responsible for the performance of the executive and administrative functions of the assemblies.

He said they are however, by law members of the District Tender Boards, which have responsibility for advising the assemblies on the award of contracts. "It would appear from these provisions that the presence of Members of Parliament in the assemblies is meant to have more than symbolic value and that even if they do not have the right to vote in the deliberations of the assemblies, they are required to be part of the supervision and monitoring functions of the assemblies."

These functions, Mr Adjei-Darko said could be effectively performed without being provided with office accommodation.