Fifty three elected and appointed assembly
members for the Bolgatanga municipal assembly were today sworn into office
to spearhead the socio-economic development of their respective electoral
areas.
At an inaugural ceremony held at the premises of the assembly, the
newly inducted members were tasked to champion the interest of the group they
represent and exercise their functions diligently in line with the mission and
vision of the assembly.
The Upper East Regional Minister, James Zuuga Tiiga,
who made the call, said by the local government act of 1993, members of the
assembly are obliged to establish close contact with their electorates, consult
them on critical issues and above all collate their views for presentation to
the assembly.
He said while performing this task, they also owe it a
responsibility to live up to expectation and have regard for issues of national
interest and not their personal parochial interest.
Mr Tiiga, who is
also the acting MCE for Bolgatanga municipal following the exit of the former
MCE, Edward Ayagle, further charged members of the assembly to help deepen the
country's decentralisation process by encouraging grassroots participation to
promote democracy and peace in the country.
Touching on the potentials of the
area, Mr Zuuga Tiiga, observed that the
region and for that matter the Bolgatanga municipality and it's catchment area
abound in lots of economic potentials that could be harnessed to provide
additional revenue for the assembly.
He therefore challenged the assembly to
explore avenues by venturing into such untapped resources to assist in the
development process of the assembly.
Delivering the inaugural address on behalf
of the President, the Principal of Gbewaa College of Education, Rev. Luke Abugri reiterated the need for the
members to serve their people and the country at the local level diligently.
He
said under the decentralisation process, former functions and powers of
government had been entrusted into the assemblies.
This means that assembly
members have to work closely as a team in the discharge of their duties. The 53
assembly members of the Bolgatanga municipal assembly consist of 37 elected and
16 government appointees.
They were officially sworn into office by Rev Abugri.
Out of the 53 assembly members, five were women.
The election of Presiding
member for the Bolga Assembly has been postponed for another 21 days because
all the four contestants failed to attain two third of the number of votes.
At the time of filling this report election of
presiding members for all the 13 district assemblies were ongoing.
At Tongo in the
Talensi district, 34 assembly members comprising 10 government appointees
including the DCE and 24 elected members were sworn into office.
The oath
of office was administered by the Regional Minister, James Zuuga Tiiga. After
the inaugural ceremony, retired educationist and elected assembly member for
Tongo central, Bernadict Yindol was by unanimous decision elected as the
Presiding Member for the Talensi assembly.
This was after his main contender
who is the assembly member elect for Shiega electoral area, Michael Zooga
withdrew from the race.
According to him, he took the decision on
personal grounds.
In the Bongo district, 38 elected and 16 appointed
members of the assembly were inducted into office. Out of the number, 9 were
women.
GBC
No comments:
Post a Comment