The Member of Parliament (MP) for Agona East, Mrs Queenstar Maame Pokuah Sawyerr, has said it is not acceptable for assembly members to be overly interested in their personal benefit while the myriad of problems confronting their constituents are left unattended to.
She has, therefore, admonished assembly members in the district to have the interest of the people that they represent at heart so that they can work towards addressing them.
General assembly meeting
Mrs Pokuah Sawyerr gave the advice while addressing the general meeting of the Agona East District Assembly at Agona Nsaba in the Central Region.
The meeting was also used to approve the 2018 composite budget, as well as the medium-term development plan of the assembly.
She stated that the district was very deprived, thus it was incumbent upon the assembly members to champion the development needs of the people they represented, so that the government, through the district assembly, could tackle them for the benefit of the citizenry.
She noted that instances where assembly members only championed what would directly benefit them and not the electorate did not augur well as it could slow down development in their respective electoral areas.
Desist from partisanship
The MP added that though the district assembly concept was non-partisan, some assembly members had become too partisan in the discharge of their duties, saying ‘’the partisan nature of some of you is thwarting the development agenda of the district.’’
She urged them to perform their duties devoid of partisan undertone so that with one purpose, they could make meaningful contributions to the progress of the district.
She expressed her appreciation to the members for their commitment and dedication towards addressing the myriad of challenges of the district.
Area councils are essential
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Agona East, Mr Dennis Armah Frimpong, admitted that for the district to achieve its desired progress, the area councils must be made operational so that the district’s development can be fast-tracked.
He noted that the assembly would assess the logistics needed by the councils as quickly as possible so that such items could be provided to pave way for the inauguration of the councils.
He stated that if the councils were working effectively with the required ceded funds provided to them, they would be able to address some of the problems at their level to ease the pressure on the central administration.
He called on the assembly members to embrace the area council concept of the decentralisation process to propel the development of the district.
