The Western Regional Minister, Honourable Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah (MP for Takoradi Constituency), has urged Parliament to consider the creation of Assembly Members’ Common Fund.
The Member of Parliament explained that the Assembly Members are not able to discharge their responsibilities effectively and also respond to the developmental needs of their communities because they do not have the resources and capacity to execute their mandate, therefore, solving problems becomes a challenge that impedes progressive development, and also serves as a disincentive for the full participation of the District Level Elections by the citizenry.
He stated that Members of Parliament have a 5% Common Fund which they can use in solving community and individual needs of their constituents, hence, Assembly Members must also have their COMMON FUND to enable them to address real-time problems at their electoral areas.
It will bring back the enthusiasm at the local level, he added. The MP for Takoradi, Hon. Darko-Mensah, also added that the assemblies must have budgets that can solve problems at the local level without depending on national.
Again, he submitted that the election of Assembly Members must be done on a “partisan” basis because we can’t have partisan elections for MPs and non-partisan for assembly elections.
We can’t build a partisan structure on a non-partisan one, he stated. Furthermore, the Takoradi MP called for MMDCEs to be elected on a partisan basis to have a full complement of a structure at the local level to spur development.