Stephen Akugri, the presiding member of the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly, reports that the assembly is actively engaging with local residents to gather input on concerns such as stray animals, funeral regulations, and burial practices, aiming to integrate these community perspectives into the by-laws.
“We were trying to look at some of the issues in the bylaws, trying to get in touch with various communities concerning certain areas in the bylaws, and actually those things have not been implemented and we are still working on it.”
Mr. Akugri emphasized the importance of thorough data collection and community feedback before implementing any changes. “When you collate information or data, you’ll have to bring it back to the assembly to sit and then look at it. Even before you can fully incorporate it, you still have to visit the communities again to let them know that, all the information that you collected from them, these are the intentions of the assembly before you can kick-start it. You don’t have to rush and do things that later, the community will say that this is not the information they have given.”
He noted that the assembly has been working at the committee level but is planning to convene a general assembly meeting soon to address these pressing issues. “I know vividly when we start the meetings of the assemblies, these are the various important issues that we look at first, but since we have been elected to office, we haven’t called for a general assembly. So we have just done the various levels of committee meetings. What we are hoping for is the general assembly and I’m sure very soon, those issues will be handled at the meeting.”
Meanwhile, he noted that funding remains a significant challenge for the assembly, which is currently facing financial constraints that hinder its ability to organize larger meetings.
“Everything too is about funding. The assembly here is crawling, serious crawling because of these financial issues, so we have to always play some tactics before we can organize some small funding to call for a meeting.”
He highlighted the need for better revenue collection and stressed the importance of educating the community about insisting on receipts for payments made to the assembly, ensuring that funds are accurately allocated.
“We have to educate our own people that the money they sometimes pay to the assemblies sometimes does not get to the assembly because they didn’t insist on their receipts. If we make sure that our people insist on taking their receipts, the money will definitely get there.”
However, he expressed confidence that the assembly is gradually getting back on track and underscored the collaborative spirit among members and technocrats. “Gradually, I think the assembly is getting on its feet. Together, we’ll play our parts in what it takes as a presiding member to support the technocrats or the MCEs to function well.”
Together, they aim to identify and resolve key challenges facing the assembly and enhance governance in the municipality. “As for my colleagues, our working relationship is very good. We don’t have problems among ourselves, we don’t have problems with the technocrats. What we are expecting is that we should work hand in hand and try to identify certain key areas that we think are a problem to Assemblies to address them,” he said.
Source: A1Radioonline.com | 101.1 MHz | Gifty Eyram Kudiabor| Bolgatanga |