Remuneration of assembly members: NALAG commends President Mahama

The General Secretary of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), Sheriff Amarh, has commended President John Dramani Mahama for instituting the renumeration system for assembly members in the various districts.  

He noted that working      without appropriate compensation for assembly members left much to be desired.

He explained that aside from the stress in the line of duty to the state, assembly members had direct dealings with the people and that came with much social and financial responsibilities. 

Workshop

Mr Amarh made the commendation at the opening of a two-day workshop for presiding members and finance and administration staff of district assemblies at Sekondi.

“We are pushing hard on this government’s question to resource members as well as prompt payment of end-of-service benefits,” he said.

The General Secretary said NALAG had been engaging the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to ensure that there was no secrecy on “who gets what” of the DACF. 

Strategic

On the training, Mr Amarh noted how strategic it was to help fresh assembly members as well as presiding members to have a grasp on financial mobilisation and how they could support to rake in more and ensure its judicious use.

He said training was crucial for quality human resources, thus the responsibility of NALAG to retool members for optimum performance.

The General Secretary encouraged the members to network for holistic development of the country. 

Financial management

The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Fredrick Faustinus Faidoo, who opened the workshop, said knowledge and financial management were crucial to grow the wealth of the assemblies, adding, “take the knowledge seriously, grasp whatever you can to help in local and national development”.

He said the government was ready to collaborate with persons and institutions with a craving for national development and urged the various assemblies to champion and actually become worthy ambassadors. — GNA