Members of the Kassena-Nankana municipal assembly have called on the government to establish an Electoral Area Development Fund to support them in financing development projects in their respective communities.
The assembly members said the fund would empower them to access resources to assist their communities to undertake minor development initiatives such as maintenance and repair works while the government tackles what is beyond their intervention.
The assembly members said the establishment of the fund would also ensure equal distribution of resources across the constituency, thereby reducing the instances where communities are neglected due to lack of funding.
The assembly members, who made the call on the sideline of a brief ceremony to present fifty-three motorbikes procured by the Local Government and Rural Development Ministry to facilitate their movement, called on the government to finance the proposed fund from five percent of the District Assembly Common Fund.
Cosmos Adoctor, the presiding member who doubles as an assembly member for Korania-Bonia electoral area, said assembly members were the first persons of contact in the communities when emergencies or issues of development arise, adding that the establishment of the fund would enable them to attend to such situations before they get to the municipal assembly level.
He said, “we live in the communities. We are with the people. We are the first point of call when issues of development or emergencies come up. So, that is why we are pushing for a fund. If there is funding available, assembly members can use that one to assist in development issues when they come up before they come to the level of the assembly or the member of parliament.”
The assembly member for Doba-Gayingo electoral area, Emmanuel Atea, said although the government was doing its best to support them to discharge their duties, the lack of funding to drive their own community-level development initiatives was affecting their work.
He said assembly members are sometimes compelled to dip hands into their pockets to finance or undertake important projects in the communities out of love for the people.
Atea explained that there are instances where even Non-Governmental Organisations lose interest in assisting communities with development initiatives because they [organisation] have not seen financial commitments from assembly members.
He, therefore, urged the government to redirect part of the District Assembly Common Fund to finance the Electoral Area Development Fund.
Alemya Moses, the assembly member for Natugnia electoral area, who said he was currently faced with a challenge of finding help from the municipal assembly to repair a crack in the floor of his community primary school but has been unsuccessful, said he would not have been fruitlessly chasing the assembly for financial support to undertake the repairs if the proposed fund was established.
He explained that there are some minor projects in their various electoral areas assembly members do not need the intervention of the municipal assembly to execute if there is a functional Electoral Area Development Fund.
Alemya added that the lack of the fund has however left assembly members with no option but to keep bothering the municipal assembly for support to undertake such projects which often come too late or not at all.
The assembly members want five percent of the District Assembly Common Fund