Upper East NALAG elects new president

A Regional Delegate Conference of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana, (NALAG) was held in Bolgatanga on the theme: "The Role of Local Authorities of Global Agenda for Sustainable Development".

The event mainly attended by Municipal and District Chief Executives, (MDCE's) and other executive functions at the assembly saw the election of a regional representative to steer the affairs of the association in the region.

The election was held between the Presiding Member for the Builsa South District Assembly, Richard Ajuik, and the DCE for Bongo, Peter Ayimbisa Ayamga.

At the end of the fierce contest, Mr. Ayamga was elected into office as President for the Association after polling 33 votes to beat his main contender, who had 31.

The election was supervised by the regional office of the Electoral Commission.

In his victory speech, Mr. Ayamga thanked the delegates for the confidence reposed in him and pledged an open door policy to strengthen the existing structures within the association.

He further challenged the delegates to offer constructive criticisms where necessary, as this will enable him execute his development agenda with circumspection.

Mr. Ayamga again promised to liaise with the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the association to address all their concerns especially issues that has to do with the procurement and delay in disbursement of motorbikes for assembly members.

He said every assembly member deserves to be given a motorbike to facilitate their daily operations.

To this effect, his tenure will ensure the timely distribution of the bikes to both elected and appointed members irrespective of the setbacks.

Contemporary issues that emanated from the meeting included the creation of new districts assemblies and the election of MMDCEs.

Others included strategies for effective engagement on popular Participation and continuous lobbying for the payment of remuneration of assembly members by the central government.

Touching on the theme for the occasion, the National President of NALAG, Felix Mensah, entreated the various assemblies to support the global agenda in the achievements of the SDGs with focus on climate change mitigation.

He noted that local governance and decentralisation has taken a global dimension and whatever happens in the global arena has a bearing effect on the local and vice versa.

Therefore, it was imperative for assemblies to appreciate the impact of climate change on their operations at the local level.

Per article 19 of the NALAG constitution, conferences to elect regional representatives are held every two years.

Meanwhile, the Biennial National Delegate Conference of the Association is slated to be held in March 2018.

The upcoming event will witness the exit of the current NEC and new members elected to join the 10 regional representatives.

The event was chaired by the DCE for Kassena-Nankana Municipal, Williams Aduum saw the General Secretary of NALAG, Kokro Amankwah in attendance.

He was accompanied by other key staff of the association.