The local government system, as a feature of participatory democracy, is crucial for development at the grassroots level, if it is supported and run according to laid down principles and rules.
Why would a group of people in a tiny village in this country, mobilise themselves and sometimes engineered by some affluent, influential persons, call for the blood of a sector minister, who is, after all, at the level of central government, for their village's underdevelopment, when these people are expected to know that they are for their own development?
Anyway, I cannot blame my village brothers and sisters for thinking that it is the President and his ministers who must develop our local communities, because that is what we have been made to understand during campaign periods.
It is sad and worrying that for over a decade since this decentralisation system has been with us, not much strides have been chalked, and we still blame the President, this minister and that minister for dysfunctional, and in some cases, nonexistent social amenities in every corner of the country.
I remember those days at the village, even if the problem had to do with a borehole not flowing very well, our parents would remark: 'Ah! You see what JJ has done again?' President Kufuor was also not spared of attacks as in some cases, flood victims had to accuse him of not preventing running water from entering their homes and destroying valuable items, and sometimes, lives.
The trend continues unabated, as President Mills has been accused severally, for not putting the right measures in place to combat fire outbreaks in the country.
I believe strongly, that so long as our people are left in the dark about what they can do for themselves and their people, coupled with the lip service the whole local government system enjoys from central government, these developmental evils would continue to be part and parcel of us.
I, personally, see assembly and unit committee members as torchbearers of development at the local level, who should be given the best of support, in order to deliver. By this assertion, I mean they need to be abetted financially, materially, psychologically, and even, spiritually, to be able to have a sustained bright light in search of development.
It is surprisingly that way over a decade down the line, our assembly members still work for a grace period of four years on empty stomachs; come to talk of the unit committee members who are often forgotten a few weeks after elections.
By this piece, I am humbly appealing to the Head of State to motivate these local leaders, by instituting some monthly allowances for them, as it's been said: 'An army marches on its stomach.' Once the district chief executives and presiding members, who are part of the local government system, are being given something to urge them on to serve their people, it is too discriminatory to take out others who also perform similar functions, from enjoying the same facility.
Again, the situation where our assembly and unit committee members cannot be traced to any secretariat/office is really making their visibility very difficult, especially, in densely populated urban settings.
If the government, for limited resources, would find it difficult building offices for them, then my suggestion is that some little support should be given to the local authorities for communal labour to be used to get assembly secretariats for our assembly and unit committee members.
Now, to our dear assembly and unit committee members; we have elected you to serve us for a period of four years, after which we will evaluate your performances, and decide whether to maintain you, or disgracefully boot you out.
My advice to you, therefore, is that you must bury all differences, if they exist at all, work in tandem, and complement each other, and with the massive support we shall give you as citizens, we can move our communities forward.
The assembly member and his team should not lose sight of the fact that development is an all-involving struggle, hence, the need to bring all partners on board, so that everybody can feel being part of that mission of fighting poverty, hunger and disease, and making life comfortable for mankind.
Town hall meetings should be regularly and consistently organised, so that the citizens can be briefed on what affects them, and what is expected of them as players of development. Issues discussed at assembly meetings should not be left at the entrance of the assembly hall, and those concerns raised at town hall meetings that need to be disclosed at the assembly, must be appropriately submitted.
In fact, assembly and unit committee members must try to be effective liaison officers between government and their local compatriots, for this is the surest way we can bring development to our people.
Long live our assembly/unit committee members, long live the local government system, and long live Ghana.
amoatec27@yahoo.com P.O Box 12, Ave-Dakpa
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