Effiduasi (Ashanti), 25th June 99 ?

Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, last Wednesday asked Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, as local government practitioners, to examine the manifestoes of the various political parties to enable them to vote wisely in next year?s elections.

He asked Assembly members to examine the manifestoes so they can determine which parties have their interests at heart and will ensure good governance at the local level.

Mr Ahwoi was addressing the Sekyere East District Assembly at Effiduasi to end a two-day official visit to the Ahafo-Ano North and the Sekyere East districts of Ashanti.

"With the coming general elections next year, I need hardly remind you of the need to ensure that the considerable impact which the assemblies have made in the promotion of education, health, water and sanitation in the last 10 years of the nation's development, be kept as an important part of the country?s history.

Mr Ahwoi called for understanding, diplomacy and tact between Members of Parliament, District Chief Executives (DCEs) and assemblymen and women in the selection, approval and siting of development projects in the communities.

He said it is true that the system of a non-partisan local government structure supporting a partisan central government generates its own structural conflict, but this is made worse when the human factor exacerbates the conflict into personality clashes.

Mr Ahwoi appealed to the public not to put undue pressure on MPs by making excessive demands on them, thereby tempting them to use the MPs constituency development fund in an otherwise unauthorised manner.

"District assemblies are also to comply with the prescribed procedures in their disbursement as these also make it impossible for the fund to be put to unauthorised uses", he added.

Mr Kwame De-Graft Agyei, Sekyere East District Chief Executive, in a welcoming address, said between 1994 to 1998, the assembly received a total of about 2.7 billion cedis as its share of the district assemblies common fund.

He said the money was used to provide educational, health, and sanitation infrastructure, water, roads, markets, lorry parks and for capacity Building to improve the living conditions of the people.

Mr Agyei said the assembly is expected to spend about 1.2billion cedis on development projects this year while under the ASIP Agricultural Sector Investment Project) programme, Kumawu and Asokore

are to benefit from market projects estimated at about 600 million cedis.

GRi?/