Presiding Members should not undermine MMDCEs – Traditional ruler
Nana Kodua Kesse, Oyokohene of New Juaben, has advised Presiding Members (PMs) of the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) not to use their positions as the head of the Complains Committee of the Assemblies to undermine their Chief Executives.
He said it was a reality that the Chief Executives and PMs could belonged to different political parties but that should not prevent them from working as a team to meet their set targets for the benefit of the people.
Nana Kodua Kesse, who is also the Adontenhene of New Juaben, gave the advice at the opening of the National Conference of PMs in Koforidua on Wednesday on the theme: “The PM, a critical player in the Local Government System”.
According to Nana Kesse, there had been many conflicts involving Chief Executives and PMs which were not healthy for the decentralization system and the two must work as a team irrespective of their affiliations to ensure development and improvement in the lives of the ordinary people.
The President of the National Association of Local Authorities in Ghana (NALAG), Theophilus Mensah Aidoo, urged PMs of the various assemblies to step up their performance in the area of audit queries.
He said revelations at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting on finances of the MMDA were not the best.
Mr Aidoo challenged the PMs to be interested and show more commitment in the audit queries.
According to Mr Aidoo, who is also the District Chief Executive for Gomoa West, the PM’s position was very important that they needed to step up their performance to ensure that the core function of the assemblies per the decentralization concept was realized.
He however observed that conflicts between PMs and Chief Executives were becoming too rampant and must be checked.
He cited the recent Accra Metropolitan Assembly conflict where the Assembly members called for the impeachment of the Mayor, as one of the many conflicts that had occurred in recent times and called on the PM’s to work as a team with Chief Executives who were the head of the assemblies and not as competitors.
A Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural development, Mr Aquinas Quansah, reiterated the importance of PMs and urged them to live up to expectation to ensure that business of the Assemblies were carried out successfully.
He stressed the need for the various assemblies to create an economic development desk to maximize Internal Generated Funds (IGF).
Mr Quansah said it was high time that every assembly recognized the role of PMs and create a permanent office to facilitate their work.
He called for healthy and cordial relationship between Chief Executives and PMs to realize the better Ghana agenda.
Source: GNA