District Assemblies not wings of ruling political party

Ekumfi Eyisam (C/R), Feb 17, GNA - A Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has pointed out that District, Municipal or Metropolitan Assemblies are not wings of a ruling political party. Ms Margaret Mary Sackey, Mfantseman Municipal Director who made the observation, said it was wrong to attribute decisions of the assemblies t= o the ruling party.

She was explaining misconceptions some people of Ekumfi Eyisam had about the Municipal Assembly's fee-fixing resolution for 2010 which was conveyed to the people of the community last week. The decision of the assembly to impose levies of GH¢200.00 and GH¢= 10.00 on burials at ordinary cemetery in big and small town respectively, and GH¢60.00 and GH¢20.00 per vault graves in bigger and smaller communit= ies; GH¢1,000.00 and GH¢500.00 per a grave in the home and in churches, sp= arked off the misunderstanding. They attributed the decision to that of the government and the Natio= nal Democratic Congress (NDC).

"We can understand better government's policies and programmes which=

the party in power often tries to project and the work of the assemblies when we separate the two institutions," Ms Sackey stated. She urged the people to know who constitute the assembly to realise that the assembly consists of all shades of opinions and people with vari= ous political affiliations.

Ms. Sackey said the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which gave birth to t= he District Assembly concept made the assemblies non-partisan and therefore their activities were done on non-partisan lines.

Ms. Sackey pointed out to assembly members that decisions of the assemblies were taken collectively and it bound every member, therefore i= t was wrong for an assembly member to kick against such decisions. Mr. Kwame Nkrumah, Mfantseman East Chairman of NDC appealed to Ghanaians to accept to pay tax and levies.

"The time has come when we can no longer rely on taxes paid by citiz= ens of other countries to develop our country," he stated. He urged Ghanaians to sacrifice now for a better tomorrow. 17 Feb 10