5TH KASSENA-NANKANA WEST DISTRICT ASEEMBLY INAUGURATE BUT NO PM 12th FEB., 2024
The new and reconstituted Kassena-Nankana West Assembly was successfully inaugurated on Monday 12th February, 2024 but failed to elect a Presiding Member [PM] the same day even after two attempts. This same fate faced the Fourth Assembly; the term of the immediate-past Assembly Members until they eventually got one elected in the dying days of the previous Assembly.
The Hon. DCE Addressing The House |
The Assembly comprises a total of 68 which includes the DCE, the Member of Parliament, 20 Government Appointees and 46 elected members. This is the 5th Assembly since the creation of this district in 2008.
Meanwhile earlier in his welcome
address at the inauguration ceremony prior to the attempt to elect the PM, Hon.
Ataogye expressed joy that a good number of the past Assembly Members have
rejoined the 5th assembly and noted their rich experience would benefit the
House a great deal.The Assembly Members Taking Their Oaths
Mr. Ataogye observed that over time, the
Kassena Nankana West District Assembly has been unable to tap the full capacity
of its revenue potentials in terms of internal revenue generation, thus
depending heavily on Central Government to finance its budget. He thus charged
the newly inaugurated Assembly Members; “As newly elected assembly members, you
must come out with more realistic, innovative and creative strategies in
collaboration with Management of the Assembly to generate adequate revenues to
compliment the efforts of central government to undertake development projects
in this part of the country”.
In the inaugural speech read for
the President by the Upper East Regional Representative on the Council of
State and Paramount for the Talensi Traditional Area, Tongraan Kubilsong
Nanlebegtang, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo told the new members of the
House; “as Assembly Members, you have the mandate to deliberate, plan, mobilize
resources, make decisions including by-laws to ensure the transformation of
your District towards the Ghana we all want”.President's Rep., H.E The Tongraan Reading Speech
The President noted that, the inauguration coming off marked another important milestone towards deepening Ghana’s decentralisation as stipulated in Article 35 Clause 6(d) of the 1992
Constitution. He explained that, this Article indeed enjoins the state to promote decentralisation and popular participation in governance by affording all possible opportunities to the citizenry to participate in decision making at all levels of government.
According to him, the decentralisation reforms that started in 1988 with only
110 District Assemblies have since made progress in several fronts. “Today, as we inaugurate 259 District Assemblies out of a total of 261; with the exclusion of Nkoranza South Municipal and Nkoranza North District Assemblies whose tenure is yet to end; we can all agree that government is closer to the people than it had ever been in the history of this country”, he noted. He expressed the hope that the newly constituted membership of the District Assembly, is competent enough to envisage new ideas and opportunities that would emerge from the House’s deliberations to deepen and strengthen, the legislative and executive functions of the District Assembly for the general good of the people.
It is however interesting to note that aside the Kassena-Nankana West District failing to elect a Presiding Member on the inauguration day, some other eight sister districts across the Upper East Region could not also fulfill the simple task of getting a PM elected; they are the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly, the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly, the Talensi District and the Binduri District. The rest include Builsa South, Bongo, Tempane and Garu Districts. The Bawku West District was lucky to have successfully elected one though.
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