Sagnarigu Assembly members cry over frequent transfers of staff

Members of the Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly in the Northern region are livid over a purported transfer of the Coordinating Director of the assembly, Andrews Mensah.

At a press conference organized by Sub-committee Chairpersons and addressed by the Presiding Member (PM) of the assembly, Alhaji Mohammed Awal, the aggrieved members accused the Local Government Services Secretariat of unprofessional conduct in the transfer of Mr Mensah who is barely four months in office.

According to Alhaji Awal, the assembly has witnessed several transfers of its competent staff since its establishment in 2012. This, he said, affects the human resource of the assembly thereby slowing its progress.

“I called this meeting to share with you the displeasure that has befallen the municipality. This is emanating from a document I came across directing the Municipal Coordinating Director to go on transfer with immediate effect. This assembly has encountered several transfer of its competent staff since its establishment in 2012.

“This particular transfer has revealed that the Local Government Service didn’t attach professionalism in this. The reason is that we have just been upgraded to a municipal status. It means that the structure of the assembly ought to be upgraded [and] as such the human resource too has to be upgraded,” he lamented.

This is the second time in less than one year a Coordinating Director of the assembly is being transferred. The immediate past Coordinating Director, Mr Wumbei Ibn Zakaria was transferred some four months ago, paving way for Mr Mensah to assume office.

According to the assembly members, about four Coordinating Directors and four District Finance Officers among other key staff of the assembly have been transferred from the assembly since its creation.

They called on the assembly and the Local Government Service Secretariat to reverse the transfer of Mr Mensah, failure of which they will embark on a demonstration.

“We are praying the authority to immediately reverse [the transfer]. We are also advising and giving them a warning, we are told some transfers are yet to be done; they should rescind their decision of transferring those staff. We will not have an assembly where we will build our members of staff [and] when they are competent enough and they are driving the assembly, they are transferred,” he cautioned. “It means someone is fighting the assembly and we don’t want to tag someone as an enemy to the assembly. So we are praying the authorities and the chiefs to also intervene. If this [demand] is not taken seriously, the next step is that we shall meet opinion leaders and groups and make sure that we come out with a massive demonstration against the authorities.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the press conference, the assemblyman for the Kanvili Electoral Area and chairman of the Finance and Administration Sub-committee, Peter Tisakiya says the assembly is being taken for granted.

According to Mr Tisakiya, though the assembly and the Local Government Service Secretariat reserve the right to transfer staff, such transfers should follow best practice so as not to deny the assembly experienced hands that can help move the municipality forward.