NALAG commended for rotating meetings on regional basis
The Regent and acting President of Dagbon Traditional Council, His Majesty Kampakuya-Naa Andani Yakubu Abdulai, has commended the National Executive Council (NEC) of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) for its decision to rotate its quarterly meetings on a regional basis to help deepen the decentralisation process of the country.
The decision to rotate the NEC meetings of NALAG on a regional basis is to enable the leadership of the association to learn at firsthand issues confronting the decentralisation process across the country and how best to help resolve them.
The Kampakuya-Naa made the commendation when members of the NEC of NALAG paid a courtesy call on him at the Gbewaa Palace in Yendi last week Friday to solicit the support of traditional authorities to educate their subjects on the need to participate in the (now botched) district assembly elections.
The leadership of NALAG, led by its President, Alhaji Mohammed Doku, who is also the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Asunafo North in the Brong Ahafo Region, were in Tamale, the Northern regional capital, to hold their quarterly meetings.
The Kampakuya-Naa bemoaned the politicisation of the district-level elections (DLEs) which he said was not healthy for local governance and the decentralisation process of the country.
He noted that as traditional rulers, they were debarred from taking part in active politics and the only place or platform left for them to articulate their views was at the local level of governance, and added that if elections to select assembly members were politicised, then chiefs would not have any role to play.
He noted that the reason people did not attach much importance to the district assembly elections, unlike the presidential and parliamentary elections, was that assembly members were not as resourced as Members of Parliament (MP) to undertake development projects, hence the disinterest of many in the elections.
The Kampakuya-Naa, therefore, called for a review of the laws on the DLEs so as to respond to current needs and development and also make the office of assembly members attractive to ensure the same level of patronage for the district level elections as that of the presidential and parliamentary elections.
The President of NALAG, Alhaji Doku, thanked the regent of Dagbon for taking on board their plea to continue to educate his subjects on the need to participate in the local level elections.
This, he said, would help elect competent persons who could help strengthen the local authorities to embark on development projects for sustainable national development.
He said as local government actors and traditional rulers, "we all have a role to play to ensure the success of the decentralisation process and the suspended district level elections."
Alhaji Doku, therefore, appealed to all stakeholders in the DLEs, especially the candidates, to take advantage of the suspension of the elections to intensify their campaign and educate the public on the need to vote during the elections.
He also urged women and other marginalised groups such as people living with disabilities (PWDs) who could not file their nominations to contest the elections to do so when nominations were reopened.