Kumasi, April 2, GNA - The Concerned Citizens Association (CCA) of Kumasi has expressed its dissatisfaction about the failure of most Members of Parliament (MPs) in the urban areas to help address the numerous social, environmental and immoral problems plaguing their constituencies.
Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, Chairman of the CCA, regretted that most of the constituencies in the urban areas are presently faced with problems of refuse, street children, youth unemployment but there were no positive signs from the MPs to help find solutions to them.
Odeneho Appiah made the observation at a press conference organised by the association in Kumasi on Saturday to highlight social problems impeding the smooth development of most constituencies in the Kumasi Metropolis.
He noted that, unlike MPs in the rural constituencies, those in the urban areas have very little to do with the provision of basic social amenities since these facilities are already in place.
They should, therefore, re-channel funds they have earmarked for physical developments to improving the lot of people in their constituents. Odeneho Appiah said various training schemes could have also been initiated by such urban MPs to provide vocational training to the unemployed youth and street children.
He stated that, if the MPs have to actually keep faith with their electorates, it is equally crucial for them to also consider using part of their common fund to design programmes to help resettle the homeless.
Odeneho Appiah attributed the poor performance of most sitting MPs to the wrong assumption that their constituencies would retain them to contest the forthcoming general elections.
He reminded them that even if they were retained, their ability to win the mandate of their constituents would not depend on their words and lengthy debates in parliament but on what they have been able to do to bring development to bear on the lives of their constituents.
