Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Gloria Akuffo has called on district assemblies to take advantage of automation and other innovative services to improve their Internally Generated Funds.

The minister made the call as a Special Guest of Honour during the inauguration of elected assembly and unit committee members in the Shai Osudoku district in the Greater Accra Region.

In a speech read on behalf of President Akufo Addo, Miss Gloria Akuffo reminded the assembly that it was being made and inaugurated at a time when efforts were being made to enhance internally generated funds of MMDAs.

“You are being inaugurated at a time when efforts are being made by government through the ministry of local government to enhance internally generated funds of metropolitan municipal district assemblies particularly in the area of property rates,” she said.

This, Miss Akuffo asserted can only be achieved if street naming and property addressing is pursued vigorously, working hand in hand with the national digital property addressing system and the Ghana post GPS.

The new assembly, comprising of 22 elected assembly men, 10 government appointees and 110 unit committee members were sworn in by the magistrate of the Dodowa district court, Her Worship, Gloria Laryea.

District Chief Executive for Shai Osudoku, Daniel Akuffo while stressing on the collective effort required to develop the district said members had a huge responsibility on their shoulders to deliver on this mandate.

He therefore called for intensive orientation for the assembly members and unit committee members which he is hopeful will properly prepare them for their respective roles.

“It is my hope that the ministry of local government and rural development, the regional coordinating council, the institute of local government studies and other relevant agencies will undertake a number of orientations and workshops to sensitize you on your responsibilities which we are optimistic will have a very positive impact on your workings in the assembly,” he asserted.

He said various interventions such as the planting for food and jobs introduced by the government has provided bumper harvest and expressed the optimism that the Shai Osudoku district will not renege on its status as one of the leading rice production districts in the country.

Election of presiding member

The newly inaugurated assembly however failed to elect its presiding member, pursuant to the Local Government Act (2016).

The assembly members could not settle on any of the two presiding member (PM) aspirants with a two-third majority as required by the Act after two rounds of voting.

The two, assembly member for Asutuare, Jonathan Kene Kwabla and Ignatius Dordoe representing the Natriku Electoral Area polled 18 and 15 votes respectively in both rounds of the process with neither of them producing the benchmark of two thirds majority to claim the position.

Voting for the election of presiding member in the assembly has therefore been adjourned until the next ten days when sitting is expected to resume.
The assembly will therefore reconvene on the 6th of February, 2020 to conduct the polls again.

The event chaired by Nene Tetteh Oblim II was witnessed by traditional leaders, representatives of various political parties, security personnel, the chief imam, staff of the assembly and members of the general public.