216 MMDAs inaugurated
Two hundred and Sixteen Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been inaugurated across the country.
The inauguration of the assemblies yesterday was delayed as a result of consultations on the appointment of government nominees.
Representatives of President John Dramani Mahama, who is currently in France, performed the inauguration on his behalf.
Members of the assemblies took the oaths of office, secrecy and allegiance at various ceremonies across the country.
Tarkwa
The swearing-in of the newly elected assembly members and government appointees of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly took place at the Tarkwa T & A Park, reports Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah.
The 45-member Assembly, including the Municipal Chief Executive, Mrs Christina Kobina, and the Member of Parliament for the area, Mrs Gifty Eugenia Kusi, were sworn in by Mr Desmond Nunoo, the Tarkwa District Magistrate.
He administered the oath of office and oath of allegiance after which a member of the Council of State, Mr George Nana Dadzie, read the President’s inaugural address.
Among the large audience who witnessed the ceremony were traditional authorities, heads of departments, former assembly members, the clergy and political party representatives.
Cape Coast
A Member of the Council of State, Mr Henry Martey Newman, inaugurated the 45 assembly members and 17 government appointees at the Cape Coast Metro Assembly, with the call on the members to submerge their personal interests for the public good, reports Timothy Gobah.
He further tasked the Town and Country Planning, and various agencies under the assembly to ensure that plans were developed according to laid-down procedure.
He said it was critical for them to get the needed revenue in order to undertake development projects to improve the lives of the people.
Mr Newman, however, expressed the government’s commitment to develop the assembly, and also provide staff with logistics to carry out their mandate.
The Paramount Chief of the Oguaa Traditional Area, Osaberima Kwesi Atta II, who chaired the ceremony, asked the members to ensure that good governance prevailed, saying “If we do this, we will embrace development.”
He also urged them to consult the electorate before coming to the assembly, adding that that was the only way they would be seen as practising democracy.
Somanya
George Folley & Ezekiel Sottie report that the 62-member Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly in the Eastern Region has 44 elected members and 18 government appointees who were sworn in by Mrs. Grace Gunubu, a magistrate at the Somanya Magistrate‘s Court.
In an address the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr. Antwi Boasiako Sekyere urged members of the assembly to justify the confidence reposed in them by maintaining close contact with their constituents.
He said after 27 years of the decentralisation process, the country had done well through the use of various support systems to facilitate the rapid development of the country.
The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Andrew Tetteh Sodah, urged the assembly members to live up to expectation.
Kumasi
From the inauguration of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Daniel Kenu reports that 147 assembly members were sworn in with 91 of them being elected members, while the remaining 44 were government appointees with 12 co-opted members.
There was no assembly member for Dichemso due to a High Court injunction on the elections in the area.
Out of the 91 elected members, only 41 were able to retain their seats with only four being women who represent the Asafo, Bomso, Tech and Aprade electoral areas. And out of the 44 appointees, 10 of them are women with various professional backgrounds and 10 others sitting MPs.
In a speech read on behalf of President Mahama, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Seth Kofi Obeng (retd), cautioned against the assemblies’ over-reliance on the District Assemblies Common Fund
He urged them to adopt innovative ways to generate their own revenue to embark on development projects.
The Chief Executive Officer of the KMA, Mr Kojo Bonsu, reminded members that the assembly was not a battlefield, urging them to have a sense of common purpose and rebuild trust in each other.
