Kumasi, Oct. 29, GNA - The 16th biennial National Delegates' Conference of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) got underway in Kumasi on Thursday with a call on the district assemblies to work hard to improve on their revenue generation performance. Mr. Joseph Yieleh Chireh, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said the assemblies could not rely only on the District Assemblies' Common Fund to meet the socio-economic aspirations of the people.

Metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies should therefore collaborate with the private sector and invest in areas like tourism to bring in some returns so that they could support more development programmes to reduce poverty. The three-day conference is being held under the theme "District Assemblies' Response to the Global Economic Crisis-Consolidating Development at the Local Level".

It is providing a platform for the association to brainstorm on local governance issues and make inputs into the proposed review of the Local Government Act 462.

Mr. Chireh told the meeting that the ministry had gone far in its efforts to get Act 462, reviewed, and said it had begun discussions with stakeholders at the regional level to collate views. It had already met traditional rulers in four regions and would do everything to solicit the views of other major stakeholders across the country.

The Minister said they have also planned to hold a national validation conference on views gathered for consideration by Parliament. Direct election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief executives is one of the key issues that had attracted public interest. Added to this is the role of traditional rulers in the Local Government concept and whether assembly members should be given remuneration. Mr. Isaac Kodobisah, Acting Chairman of NALAG, said the Association had decided to build a hostel in Accra. 29 Oct 09