By Dennis Peprah, GNA
Busunya, (B/A), July 13, GNA - Mr Anthony Afari, the Nkoranza North District Budget Officer on Friday advised local communities to elect competent Assembly Members (AMs) to represent them at the District Assemblies to facilitate rapid socio-economic development.
He said many communities were still lagged behind in development because their respective Assembly Members were not highlighting the actual development needs of those communities at the Assemblies.
Speaking at a social accountability forum at Busunya in the Nkoranza North District, Mr Afari said it was their responsibility to meet with their constituents, interact regularly in identifying their immediate needs for the Assemblies to address the pressing ones.
But, he observed that many of the members were not doing that, a situation he added was impeding the development of some of the communities.
The forum was attended by market women, women groups, some Assembly members, artisanal workers and some heads of Department of the Assembly.
It was in line with a 12-month project being implemented by MIHOSO International and Search for Rural Development, Non-governmental Organisations working to promote accountability and good governance.
Being funded by the Danish International Agency for Development (DANIDA), United Kingdom Agency for International Development (UKAID) and European Union (EU) through STAR-Ghana, the project is implemented in four District Assemblies to enhance their Internally Generated Funds (IGFs) by 40 percent.
Kintampo South, Nkoranza North, Sene West and Pru East Districts of the Brong-Ahafo Region are benefiting from the project being implemented at the cost of GHC 161,000.
Mr Afari observed that personal interests of many Members in the area had overshadowed the interest of their constituents, a situation he added was affecting the course of the Assembly.
He advised the communities to hold their members responsible on their development shortfalls, and charged them to also hold them accountable for them to work hard.
Mr Gado Musah, the Nkoranza North District Coordinating Director thanked the project implementers for selecting the District, and advised the people to support the project to achieve useful outcomes.
He expressed disgust about partisan politics which had he added had eaten into the District Assembly concept and affecting development process.
Mr Thomas Benarkuu, the Project Officer of MIHOSO International advised the people to guard against partisan politics which had the tendency to affect the project implementation.
He observed that corruption could be reduced if the people developed interest and engage actively in local government process.
Mr Benarkuu expressed the hope that authorities at the beneficiary District Assemblies would cooperate and support the project to become successful.
GNA
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