Push competent individuals to be Assembly members – NCCE

Traditional Authorities have been urged to encourage and throw their weight behind competent and capable individuals in their communities who would avail themselves for the position of assembly members.

Mrs Ellen Nyarko Appiah-Osei, the District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Abura Asebu Kwamankesse (AAK) District of the Central Region who made the call, said as part of their mandate, Assembly members must meet chiefs and discuss challenges of their areas and draft proposals to be executed by their Assemblies.

Mrs Osei said this when she addressed chiefs and elders of Asebu Traditional Council during their council meeting, as part of a series of sensitisation programmes of the NCCE, aimed at educating the public on local government participation.

She advised the electorates to vote for individuals who resided in the community as Assembly members, as they would be in a better position to understand their plight.

She discouraged the situation, where monies were taken from aspiring assembly members before voting for them, saying “these people will at the end of the day find ways of recouping their monies during their service to the nation.”

She announced that from January 2020, the constitution would be amended to include the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) pending the outcome of a referendum.

Mrs Osei added that MMDCEs played vital roles in nation building, adding that they supported developmental initiatives and served as checks on abandoned national projects.

She urged the chiefs to join hands in fighting corruption as that stalled national development.

Nana Kwaw Abada suggested that, government considers giving Assembly members an end of service package, since they are not paid to help curb corrupt practices in the Assemblies.

Source: GNA