Bongo (UE), July 24, GNA - Participants at a capacity building workshop organized for civic groups in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region have expressed dissatisfaction at the failure of Assembly members to brief them regularly on the outcome of Assembly Meetings. They said Assembly members did not meet them to seek their views so that they could channel them for discussion and implementation by the District Assembly.

Some of the Participants attributed the apparent reluctance of Assembly members to meet their constituents to demands for refreshment by some members of the community, and noted that the Assembly members were not paid and could, therefore not make provision for such demands. The capacity building workshop organized by the Foundation for Grassroots Africa Initiatives, an NGO working to reduce poverty and promote political, economic and social rights of the poor and marginalized in the Upper East Region, was meant to empower community members with dialogue skills.

The Project Dubbed "Local Civic Coalitions" (LCC) where civic groups are formed in some Districts in the Region, is also aimed at enhancing democratic Governance through Local Civic Coalitions. Another issue that emerged at the workshop was that most community members were not aware they could attend general sessions of the District Assembly to follow the discussions. The Project Development officer of Grass Roots Africa, Mr. Edwin N Batiir, urged members of the Coalitions to embark on sensitization programmes to encourage people to attend meetings convened by Assembly Members without demand anything from them.

Mr. Batiir told the LCC Members to sensitize community members to know that the development of their respective areas was paramount and superseded any refreshment from the Assembly members. He challenged the LCC Groups to create a forum to invite the Assembly Members to dialogue on developmental issues affecting their areas, to enable them to channel the views effectively to the Assembly for discussions and implementation.

He indicated that the LCC would become an easy community mobilization point for the Government and, particularly, the Assemblies and could help provide inputs into sector plans at the local level, as well as serve as promote transparency and accountability. Participants who were drawn from Vea, Bongo-Soe, Bongo , Feo, Balungo , and Beon in the Bongo District, were taken through topics including overview of the Project, Rights, Benefits and Responsibilities of Civic Groups in the Decentralization Process, and Group Dynamics. 24 July 09