Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah has urged assembly members in the region to critically study the new Local Government Act to avoid clashes with their District Chief Executives (DCE) and other bodies.
He explained that when they apprised themselves and followed the dictates of the laws and regulations governing the assembly system, they would avoid conflict and develop healthy working relationship with other stakeholders.
The minister was addressing assembly members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) at a workshop on the new Local Government Act, 2016 (936) in Kumasi.
District assembly system
Mr Osei-Mensah noted that the district assembly system operated in a bureaucratic setting where the authority, functions and relationship were clearly defined but yet people would want to jealously guard their powers to avoid territorial trespasses.
He said the inter-relationship between assembly members and presiding members on one side and the DCE on the other side, as well as the coordinating director and those under him were determined by law, rules and regulations.
He stated that each must work within the law in mutual respect and collaboration to achieve the objectives of the institutions, since the cardinal principles of democracy was the rule of law.
Rumours
Mr Osei-Mensah urged the assembly members to always use the right and established channels to seek information, verify and clarify issues and not to resort to rumour mongering or churning out untruths in the media.
“This situation has the tendency to erode the confidence the public has in the assembly and create credibility issues in the august house,” he stated.
Time
The minister gave real meaning to his abhorrence to late attendance and start of programmes by opening the workshop right on time although just a handful of participants were in attendance.
The minister, who was at the venue for the programme at 8:40 a.m., urged the organisers to commence proceedings at exactly 9:30 a.m., the advertised time, although just 35 out of the 135 of the assembly members were available.
He expressed concern about the lateness of the assembly members to the programme and said such attitudes impeded development and added that “there is no African time, we have just one world time that we all use”.
“What I believe in is that before any fish starts rotting, it starts from the head. So I being the head and representing the President, I should set a good example for others to emulate. I am going to be time conscious and will never be late”, he added.
He noted that time was a scarce resource that must be used judiciously and with great care, adding that he did not believe what had become ‘Ghana Man time; or the usual Ghanaian lateness, adding that a change in such attitude towards punctuality would move Ghana forward.
RCC
Mr Osei-Mensah stated that since he assumed office as regional minister, he had always been to the office before 8 a.m. and when it was exactly 8 a.m., he would descend and sign the attendance book so that those who would come after him will be noted and they would also realise that they were late.
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