The Member of Parliament (MP) for Takoradi, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah has submitted to the House of Parliament to consider, as a matter of priority, the creation of Assembly Members’ Common Fund.He made the suggestion during a debate in the House on December 7, 2023.
The MP, who is also the Western Regional Minister, argued that Assembly Members were unable to discharge their responsibilities effectively and same were unable to respond to the developmental needs of their communities, because they did not have the resources and capacity to execute their mandate.
In that direction, solving problems becomes a challenge that impedes progressive development, and also served 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 could use in solving community and individual needs of their constituents, hence Assembly Members must also have their Common Fund, to enable them address real-time problems in their electoral areas.
“It would bring back the enthusiasm at the local level”, he added.
The MP for Takoradi, however, suggested that the assemblies must have budgets that can solve problems at the local level, without depending on national.
The Takoradi MP supported the argument 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”.He continued, “We can’t build a partisan structure on a non-partisan one”.
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.
