Naa Dikomwine Domalae, the Paramount Chief of the Daffiama Traditional Area in the Upper West Region, has appealed to the incoming government to abide by the provisions in Article 242(d) of the 1992 Constitution to enhance decentralisation process.
The Article provides for consultation of traditional authorities and other interest groups before appointing not more than 30 per cent of membership to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
Naa Dikomwine Domalae, made the appeal at the 9th edition of the annual “Duuyee” Festival of the chiefs and people of the area.
He said this particular provision appeared to have been abused since the promulgation of the 1992 Constitution, adding that “many instances abound where various personalities without any experience were appointed merely to do the bidding of the government of the day”.
The Daffiama Naa said the inclusion of government appointees in the Assemblies was aimed at appointing people with requisite experience and expertise for them to contribute their quota to the complex administrative set up of the decentralised assembly.
Naa Domalae expressed the hope that the incoming government would take his appeal into consideration this time round, and as well pay attention to the implementation of development projects identified by the people.
Mr Mathias Puozaa, outgoing Member of Parliament (MP) for Daffiama-Bussie-Issa Constituency thanked the people for giving him their mandate and said for the three terms he served as MP, his focus had been in the area of health and education.
Dr Sebastian Sandaare, the new MP of the Constituency, promised to work closely with the traditional authorities so that they could collectively bring development to the area.
GNA
