Ajumako (C/R), May 3, GNA - The Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Evils Afriyie Ankrah, at the weekend urged Assembly members to look at issues rationally and logically instead of viewing them with partisan lenses. He said the District Assemblies were originally meant to operate on non-partisan basis, with issues handled dispassionately "but today we cannot act as ostriches to pretend that there is no party affiliation in the Assemblies".

Mr Ankrah said these when he addressed the fourth session of the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam District Assembly at Ajumako in the Central Region. He said while the Assembly system had worked well, certain issues had come up strong as defects of the concept. Another issue which confronts participatory democracy at the grassroots is the involvement of chiefs, he observed. "Traditional authorities have been conspicuously left out in the Assembly concept even though they are perceived to be major stakeholder at the local level". He said it was as a result of such defects that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development initiated the process of reviewing the Local Government Act, ACT 462, which the District Assemblies had been operating since 1993.

Mr Ankrah said the committee had done consultations throughout the country, and received memoranda from various stakeholders. "It is expected that by the time the review is over some of these grey areas in the District Assembly concept would be addressed and the rough edges would be smoothened so that participation would be enhanced," Mr Ankrah said.

He said the current Assembly members would complete their term of office by the end of august 2010 and, therefore, urged all District Chief Executives (DCEs) to begin to think about the issue of ex-gratia to Assembly members so that they are not overtaken by events. The Deputy Minister appealed to Assembly Members to help address some of the chieftaincy disputes in their respective areas since the trend retarded progress and cost government millions of Ghana Cedis in peacekeeping efforts. He also urged them to be vigilant in performing their monitoring and oversight roles to ensure efficient use of the assembly's resources. The DCE for the area, Mr. Peter Light Koomson, said as part of government Policy to create employment for the youth through an afforestation programme, the Assembly was collaborating with the chiefs and people of the district and the forestry Commission to acquire large plots of land for the programme.