The Bawku West District Assembly in the Upper East Region has for the past three years failed to elect a Presiding Member, despite several attempts by the Assembly Members.
Some assembly members who are not happy with the situation say, it has affected decision making by the assembly and to some extend affected the development of many communities in the district.
They also noted that for the past two years, some communities within the township of the district have been neglected and their appeals for potable drinking water from the Assembly have yielded no results.
“The district hospital has no ambulance yet the assembly is doing little to address our plight.” One assembly member said.
Responding to this concern on A1 Radio, the District Chief Executive, Madam Victoria Ayamba, explained that, though the situation in one way or the other has affected development, the assembly under her supervision has done a lot in terms of providing portable drinking water for some communities as well as renovating some dysfunctional structures.
She also noted that since assuming office District Chief Executive, she has tried to bring unity amongst assembly members, especially those perceived to be with the New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress, but that has not been fruitful.
” …not once that we had assembly meeting and every meeting we had, I will always explain to them that we should learn to bury our political difference and bring development to the district. Yes, 6 attempts to elect a presiding members for the district has failed.” She said.
She however added that, one of the reasons the election of a presiding member has become difficult is that some members of the National Democratic Congress in the district want to have control over who becomes a presiding member for the assembly.
“If a presiding member was to be around, by now that presiding member would have been helping in bringing NGOs and other developmental organizations to the district but see how it is.” She added.
Though at the time of filing the report, there was no information regarding when the assembly will have it’s next voting session to elect a presiding member, one thing for sure was that the assembly will definitely have a seventh attempts to elect a presiding member before the end of year.
Source: A1radioonline.com | Moses Apiah | Ghana
