The Kumasi Metropolitan and the Ahafo Ano North District Assemblies, under the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, appointed 30 percent of assembly members together with elected members have been inaugurated in Kumasi and Tepa respectively, after the December 2023 District Level Elections (DLEs) and the expiration of the 2019 DLEs.

The DLEs have been held every four years in the country since 1988 and have taken place a year before the Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

The Assemblies' mandate is to deliberate, plan, and mobilise resources and make decisions and bye-laws to bring development in their localities.

Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) with their unit committee members per the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) are indispensable parts of the development of local communities.

Hon. Daniel Botwe, Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, represented President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the KMA and Ahafo-Ano North Assemblies.

In his spoeech, President Addo urged the Assemblies to change the status quo to deepen local governance and decentralisation for the citizens to have access to public services in their Districts rather than demand such services from Accra.

The KMA swore in 66 Assembly and unit committee members, which included 46 elected and 20 appointed members with five zonal councils.

Out of the 66, KMA has two female elected and four appointed representing nine percent of the total members.

While Ahafo-Ano North swore in 56 Assembly Members made of 39 elected and 17 appointees members with one elected female and four appointed members and seven zonal councils.

Source: Matilda Tettey (MLGDRD, PR Unit)

Following the successful conduct of the District Level Elections in December last year, inaugural ceremonies have been held at 259 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across Ghana, with the exception of Nkoranza South Municipal and Nkoranza North District Assemblies whose tenures are yet to end. 

The Upper Denkyira East Municipal, Dunkwa-On-Offin;  and Upper Denkyira West District, Diaso Assemblies who participated in the inaugural ceremonies held on Monday, February 12, 2024, sworn in a total of 64 elected Assembly Members and Government Appointees.

In the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly, 29 elected Assembly Members and 12 Government Appointees were sworn in by a Circuit Court judge of Dunkwa-On-Offin, His Honour, Frank Asiedu Nimako, while Upper Denkyira West District sworn in 16 elected Assembly members and seven Government Appointees by the same judge to enable them fully embark on their duties which are to deliberate, plan, mobilize resources, make decisions including bye-laws to ensure the transformation of their respective districts towards the development of Ghana as mandated by the constitution.

A speech read on behalf of the President by the Hon. Deputy Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Hon. Augustine Collins Ntim, President Akufo-Addo entreated the newly inaugurated members of both Assemblies to build good working relationships with colleague Assembly Members, their District Chief Executives, Members of Parliament, Staff of the District Assembly, and the people they represent. 

The speech further encouraged them to establish strong partnerships and collaborate with the local structures particularly, the Urban, Town, Zonal and Area Councils, the unit committees and traditional authorities as well as other identifiable groups to facilitate the work of the District Assembly to optimise the ideals of local governance.

The Minister addressing the Assembly members and the people of Upper Denkyira East Municipality revealed the intentions of the Government to equip all the 261 District Assemblies in Ghana with one each of heavy road construction equipment including excavator, motor grader, road roller machine, to aid in road construction within the various Assemblies as part of efforts to improve rural and urban mobility as a contributing factor to national development. He said the machines were set to arrive soon.

He also promised the Assembly to furnish their new building under construction with official chairs and would make them ready before the completion of the building. Appreciating the effort of His Honor, Frank Asiedu NimaKo for his good attitude towards work and, on that note, promised to ensure their court complex was renovated and a decent bungalow for the judge provided.

The Chief Executive of Upper Denkyira East Municipal and Upper Denkyira West District Assemblies; Hon. Ebenezer Appiah Forson and Hon. Richmond Kodua respectively, both admonished the newly inaugurated Assembly Members to be good agents of development and collectively work together for the growth of their various electoral areas.

On behalf of his colleague traditional leaders, the Krontihene of Denkyira, Dr. Odiamono Ntiri Twum appealed to the Deputy Minister to help improve waste management services in the area for improved health and sanitation.

After the inaugural ceremony at the Upper Denkyira East Municipal, Hon. Kwasi Owusu Antwi was elected as the Presiding Member through an election supervised by the Municipal Electoral Officer, Rudolf Chireh.

PUBLIC RELATIONS UNIT

(MLGDRD)

The Ministry of Local Government, decentralisation and Rural Development in collaboration with the Office of the President inaugurated 259 District Assemblies with the exception of Nkoranza North and South District Assembly on the 12^th of February, 2024.

The reason for the exemption was explained by the Electoral Commission that the tenure of office for assembly members in these two districts are yet to expire, as they held their election in 2021, unlike others who held theirs in 2019.

The inauguration took place in the various District Assemblies across the country with the swearing-in of the Assembly Members and Government Appointees.

In a welcome address at the 9^TH session of the inaugural ceremony for the Ajumako -Eyann-Essiam District Assembly, Hon. Ransford Nyarko the District Chief Executive (DCE) urged the outgone Assembly Members to take new elected colleagues through the learning process of the Assembly.

Out of sixty-eight Assembly Members who were sworn into office, 12 were government appointees and 47 were elected in the Ajumako-Eyann-Essiam district.

At the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District, the Chief Executive, Hon. Lawrence Edutuah-Asiaw expressed that, the District Assembly had a lot of success stories which they were grateful for and this does not leave out the challenges they face in executing some of these success stories.

He mentioned that, the failures only helped to learn better and was hopeful that the positions the Assembly Members held will be grounds for a new learning experience and more achievements.

The district sworn in 32 elected District Assembly members which included a female and 12 government appointees.

Hon. Martin Agyei-Mensah Korsah, Deputy Minister for Local Government Decentralisation and Rural Development and also Member of Parliament for Techiman South represented President Akufo-Addo in the two Districts.

In his speech, President Akufo-Addo said the inauguration of the District Assemblies came at a time when efforts are being made by the Government through the Local Government Ministry to improve upon mobilising Internally Generated Funds (IGFs) of the MMDAs.

He noted that the government was keen on building the capacity of Assembly Members to provide effective local leadership.

The Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), an academic institution under the sector Ministry has been retooled with state-of-the-art facilities and other training resources to enable them to effectively provide the needed training for their competence enhancement.

He also urged the District Assemblies to help enforce planning standards in compliance of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 (Act 925) as well as other regulations governing human settlements and spatial planning.

The Inaugration was successful and ended with the assurance from the President to train the newly elected Assembly Members to guard them in their duties to the nation.

Source: Humble Owusu-Yeboah & Rhodaline Abba ((MLGDRD, PR Unit)