Local Government Workers’ Union elects new officers
Members of the Local Government Workers’ Union (LGWU) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress have elected a seven-member team to manage the Union’s affairs for the next four years.
The election climaxed the union’s three-day Nine Quadrennial National Delegates Conference which ended at Kwadaso Agriculture College in the Ashanti Region at the weekend.
The officers are Mr Thomas Kujan Tira, National Chairman, Mr Adu Mainoo, First Vice Chairman and Mr Wilson Mante, First National Trustee.
Mr Joe Boahen and Mr Godfried Nyarko Okyere were elected as General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary respectively, Ms Barbara Quaye, Second National Chairperson and Ms Christiana Adeti as Second National Trustee.
Mr Boahen cautioned the Civil Servants’ Association to stay away from members of the Local Government Service since it is the only institution recognised as Public Sector Union for Local Government employees and backed by Act 656 and made provision for the representation of the Union on the Governing Council of the Service.
He said Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies workers are no more civil servants but belong to the Local Government Service and urged all workers of the Assemblies to recognise the LGWU as their Mother Union.
Mr Boahen appealed to the Head of the Local Government Service Council put in place committees at all Regional and District levels to facilitate appointments and promotions of the members.
The Director of the Local Government Institute, Mr Samuel Oduro, urged the Union to get a copy of the amended Local government draft laws and make an input before it is signed into law.
“Popular participation, transparency and accountability, effective delivery and deepening democracy are some of the key objectives we should thrive to achieve,” he said.
The Secretary General of the TUC, Mr Kofi Asamoah, expressed regret about the behaviour and posture of the Chief Executives which, to him, suggest that they are more accountable to the authorities in Accra than to people in the Districts, Municipalities and the Metropolis.
“Real political and economic power in Ghana remains firmly in Accra and Local government is far from the ideal,” he said.
He said people across the country and in the Districts do not feel that they are part of decisions that are being made on their behalf.
Mr Asamoah said these and many more challenges appeared to have frozen the decentralization agenda which is critical in empowering the people politically and economically.
He said decentralization and Local Government needed to be rescued from the current malaise and be made to play its rightful role in national development.
Source: GNA