Regional News of Monday, 7 February 2005

Source: GNA

Assembly members urged to look for external sources of funding

Kumasi, Feb 7, GNA-, The acting Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, has noted that the Local Government concept could be effective in promoting socio-economic development if assembly members use innovative means of looking for external sources of funding to embark on development projects.

Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, also the Member of Parliament for Asokwa, said assembly members should not depend solely on funds allocated to the district assemblies.

He was speaking at a reception organised by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly for members of the Development Planning Sub-Committee of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) who were on a working visit to Kumasi.

Mr Jumah stressed the need for the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to meet regularly to share experiences since they were "all beset with same and similar problems and there is the need to chart a common path in addressing them".

He said problems like hawking on streets and pavements, indiscriminate dumping of refuse and disrespect for byelaws, were some of the common problem that called for effective collaboration to address.

Mrs Freda Prempeh, Chairperson of the Development Planning Sub-Committee of AMA, expressed the hoped that the interaction would yield fruitful results.