Newly sworn-in members of the Bongo District Assembly in the Upper East Region have been admonished to desist from making promises they cannot fulfil.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of 37 elected assembly members and 30 government appointees in Bongo, Peter Ayinbisa admonished assembly members to properly engage community members for their urgent needs to attract government support.
“Assembly members must be mindful of your roles in the various communities; we have seen instances where assembly members go to promise heaven and everything and when you are elected you are unable to fulfil those promises. And if you do this, the next time you are coming for their votes, they will tell you, you have not fulfilled your promises, the assembly’s work is purely sacrificial”.
“The assembly member’s job is a sacrificial one without any emoluments or salary and that is why I wish to appeal to all community members to be mindful of their expectations from their assembly members. I also appeal to our assembly members to engage community members to properly define their needs in a way that will attract the assembly and central government for support”.
Mr. Ayinbisa also tasked assembly members to foster a tight collaboration with management and departments of the assembly to meet the development aspirations of residents.
He urged assembly members to rekindle communal spirit among the youth in the respective electoral areas through effective engagement to foster development in their communities.
The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Frank Fuseine admonished assembly members to innovate in a bid to increase revenue.
“I urge assembly members to take advantage of automation and other innovative systems developed by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to improve their internally generated funds.”
“This can be achieved if street naming and property addressing is pursued vigorously, working hand-in-hand with the National Digital Property Addressing System and the Ghana Post GPS. Assembly members should devise special client sensitive approaches to mobilize these rates, devoid of challenges to the ratepayers”.