Tamale, March 15, GNA - The Tamale Metropolitan Assembly on Tuesday inaugurated the newly elected and appointed members of the Assembly to spearhead the socio-economic development of the area for the next four years.

Inaugurating the 97-member Assembly comprising 64 elected, 29 appointed and three Members of Parliament and a Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr. Albert Abongo, MP for the Bongo constituency urged the Assembly Members to desist from using their positions to gain contracts or undue favours.

The Assembly Members were inaugurated after swearing the oaths of office and secrecy ad ministered by Mr. Senyo Amedahe, a Tamale Circuit Court Judge.

Mr. Abongo, who delivered the President's speech, said the NDC government had undertaken a number of interventions to deepen and give effect to the country's decentralization system. The formulation of a revised decentralization policy and the production of a National Decentralization Action Plan are among some of the steps taken to deepen our decentralization system. He said the government had also reduced the number of the unit committees to about 5,000 for effective functioning, formulation of a draft urban development policy, implementation of street naming and house numbering exercise, implementation of a new sanitation policy to make governance meaningful to the people. Mr. Abongo tasked the new Assembly Members to evolve new strategies in collaboration with management to generate adequate revenue to complement the efforts of Central Government. "You must ensure that funds provided by the Central Government as well as internally generated funds are prudently managed," he advised. He said for their four-year term, they must serve their people and country at the local level in a way and manner that will let people appreciate the fact that they were truly participating in the decision-making process of the governance of the country. The MP said section 16 (1) of the Local Government Act 1993, Act 462 outlines some of the duties of the assembly members and urged the members to educate themselves on it.

The Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Alhaji Abdulai Haruna Friday, called on members to see themselves as agents of change for their respective communities and be partners in the development efforts of the Assembly devoid of political, ethnic, religious and traditional biases.

"If we continue to work together as a team, Tamale will be among the best cities where investors will troop in to invest and thus create opportunities for our mutual benefit," he said. The doors of Assembly were open to everyone who may have some ideas that could be used to develop the area, he said.