The government has been called upon to establish an Electoral Area Development Fund to allow elected Assembly Members to finance minor development projects in their communities.
The Upper East Regional Chapter of the Ghana Association of Assembly Members (GAAM), who made the call, proposed the fund should be financed from five per cent of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).
This, the Association, said would not only give true meaning to the decentralization process where elected Assembly Members support the implementation of projects but would enable them to fix emergency and minor development concerns in their respective areas.
At a press conference held in Bolgatanga, Mr David Adoliba, the Regional President of GAAM, said due to the incessant complaints of inadequate resources to implement projects in every electoral area, some communities had been neglected for far too long, widening the poverty gap of the people in those areas.
He said the Electoral Area Development Fund would empower the elected Assembly Members to access resources to assist their communities to fix minor development initiatives.
The Regional President advocated for a percentage of the Common Fund of the Member of Parliament to be redirected to finance the proposed Electoral Area Development Fund and added that it would ensure even distribution of resources across the constituencies.
Mr Sampson Assana, the Research Officer of GAAM, explained that although the various Assemblies usually develop Medium-Term Development Plans, which are usually broken into annual action plans, there was always discrimination in the implementation process due to complaints of inadequate funds and political interest.
“If an Assembly develops a plan that is supposed to see the implementation of certain projects in 20 communities but the Assembly has money for only five projects, they will decide where they want to situate such projects and that is where the discrimination comes in,” he added.
The Research Officer explained that due to political interest, many electoral areas continued to suffer neglect and asserted that with the Electoral Area Development Fund in place, all areas would always receive some level of development at all times.
Ms Joyce Akwoyire, the Women Organizer of GAAM, said one of the reasons people were not putting themselves up for election as Assembly Members was because of the lack of resources to carry out the mandated activities.
She said if the fund was established, it would encourage many people, especially women, to aspire for positions in the community, which was a mechanism for deepening democratic practice at the local level.
“If you are an Assembly Member and you do not have funds to rent canopies to organize a community meeting with your electorates before attending assembly meetings, you cannot help patch a pothole or help fix a culvert, then what is your use as an Assembly Member and that is why we are calling for the establishment of this fund to help the Assembly Members work effectively,” she stressed.
GNA