Decentralisation Concept:Key actors of the Assembly and their functions

Decentralisation Concept:Key actors of the Assembly and their functions
The decentralisation concept has since its inception brought much meaning to democracy by formerly devolving powers, functions,responsibilities and resources from the central government to actors at the lower levels.It creates a framework for citizens participation in decision making and the administration of their own affairs.

The District Assembly(the mainstay of decentralisation) is the highest political,decision making, legislative, planning and budgeting authority at the lower level.
There are certain primary actors within the Assembly whose role is critical for the smooth operations of the Assemblies and the realisation of the true essence of the decentralisation process.
These key actors comprise the following:
(a) The Metropolitan, Municipal or District Chief Executive (MMDCE)
(b) The Presiding Member (PM)
(c) The Member of Parliament (MP)
(d) The Metropolitan, Municipal or District Coordinating Director (DCD)
(f) Assembly Members (both elected and appointed)

The  functions and duties of these key actors are clearly spelt out under chapter twenty of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana as well as other legislations.

The District Chief Executive (DCE):
Article 243 of the Constitution provides that there shall be a District Chief Executive for every district who shall be appointed by the president with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds majority of members of the assembly present and voting at the meeting.
The DCE who is the chief representative of the president in the district perform the following functions:
-Presides at meetings of the Executive Committee of the Assembly;and in his absence,a member of the executive committee is elected by members present to preside at same;
-Be responsible for the day-to-day performance of the executive and administrative functions of the District Assembly;
-Be the Chief representative of the Central Government in the district;
-Chairs the Entity Tender Committee.
The DCE holds office holds office for not more than two terms (each consisting of a four year duration); and shall be removed from office through a vote of no confidence, supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of members voting.
He can also be removed from office by the president.The office of a DCE equally becomes vacant if he resigns of dies.

The Presiding Member (PM):
Article 244 stipulates clearly that the District Assembly shall have a Presiding Member who shall be elected by the Assembly from among its members. The PM must be approved by at least two-thirds of all members of the Assembly and holds office for a term of two years and may be eligible for re-election after the end of his/her term of office.He/she is not a member of the Executive Committee.
The Presiding Member is responsible for the following functions:
-Presides over meetings of the General Assembly;
-Control deliberations of the house and ensure good conduct and behaviour of members;
-Chairs the Public Relations and Complaints Committee,Audit Report Implementation Committee and the Credit Approval Committee of the Assembly.
The Presiding Member shall cease to hold office whenever the Assembly by a majority of at least two-thirds of all members of the Assembly vote to remove him from office.

The Member of Parliament(MP):
The member of parliament is a representative of the people of the Constituency within the district in parliament and serves an important link between parliament and the Assembly.He is a member of the District Entity Tender Committee.
An MP perform the following functions:
-Guide the Assembly on laws passed by parliament to ensure that the byelaws of the assembly are not in conflict with national legislation;
-Advocate for the people in parliament with a focus on solving their identified needs;
-Attends Assembly meetings and brief the Assembly about proceedings in parliament;
-Provide useful feedback on programmes and projects of interest to the Assembly.
A member of parliament holds office for a fixed term of four years and may be eligible for re-election.

The District Coordinating Director(DCD):
The DCD is the Secretary to the Assembly and the head of the District Coordinating Directorate. He is also a member of the Local Government Service.They Coordinate, monitor,harmonise and evaluate plans, programmes and performance of the Assembly.
The District Coordinating Director is responsible for the following functions:
-Supersee the day-to-day administration of the Coordinating Directorate;
-Responsible for the implementation of decisions and plans of the Assembly;
-Responsible for effective budgeting and planning;
-Secretary to the District Assembly,Entity Tender Committee and the Executive Committee;
-Initiate, execute, monitor and evaluate development plans and programmes of the Assembly.
The DCD is not appointed but gets into office through qualifications and technical competence.

The Assembly Member:
The Assembly Member serves as a liaison between the Community and the Assembly. He is a community developer and participates in the activities of the Assembly such as attending meetings and contribute to decision making at the Assembly.
He basically discharge the following functions as prescribed by Act 462:
-Serves on at least a committee of the Assembly and participates in Committee Meetings;
-Educate the electorate on Assembly projects as well as government policies;
-Maintain Close contact with the electorates and consult them on regular basis;
-consult electorates before each Assembly Meeting on issues to be discussed in the Assembly;
-Collate the views, opinions, proposals and other matters affecting the electorates and present same to the Assembly.

Subsequent editions of this write-up will feature other important aspects of the District Assembly under the decentralisation concept.
The writer is a teacher and a student at the University Of Ghana Business School pursuing BSC in Administration with a major in Public Administration.
Read more of his works on his personal blog:ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com
May the good lord bless us all.

By ANANPANSAH, B ABRAHAM (AB)
University of Ghana Business School (UGBS)
0241129910/0200704844
Connect with me on Facebook at Critical Political Thinker

My Radio;My Voice And Right To Development

Take Away My Radio And You Take Away My Voice And Right To Development

The plea for an egalitarian society remains a mirage so long as the people have no voice and an opportunity to voice out issues that affect them directly.The voice of the people indeed is the voice of God and is sine qua non for the development of any meaningful society.

In all wisdom and ensuing from the above, the introduction of the district assembly concept was not born out of emotions but in careful furtherance and realisation of the need to give the people a voice in the administration of their own affairs . It's to consolidate our democracy and emphasize the participatory approach to development.After all, democracy and power belongs to the people.

Arguably,the various assemblies agonized with several shortcomings have not over the years adequately represented the real and felt needs and voices of the people as much as patented parochialism.

It's therfore natural to have other pronounced avenues of representing the voices of the people in the governance of local affairs as a means of expanding participatory democracy sprung up in communities.
One of such weighty avenues has being COMMUNITY RADIO.

Community radio is a third model of radio limited by guarantee that serve geographic communities and communities of interest.
They are owned, operated and influenced by the communities of interest they serve.And by nature and legal limitations are nonprofit, nonsectarian and focus on providing individuals,groups and communities a unique community space to tell their own stories, share experiences and collaborate to further community development.It's also a major avenue for preserving our rich cultural heritage.

My inflated and buoyant spirited communism was wherefore deflated and turned into a sentimental melancholy when I learned with regret that the only community radio station (Radio For Peace and Development-95.1mhz) serving as a voice to the marginalised in Damongo has suspended its operations out of a necessary evil "We've being put on prepaid metering system".And the question remains, are we taking the real development avenue of the people away from them?

It's insightful to note that as per the revenue generation code of the station, the little revenue that the station can generate is just little enough and can only be adequate for sustenance of the station with communal support.As stated, the station is the property of the community.
Is it conclusive thereupon that as a people (community) we have not been able to sustain our own? Could the station be exempted from such a metering system in the interim on consensus?Should this be a concern to every well meaning member of the community?What can we as a people do to keep the station running so our voices can be alive?

Well, I'm just a concerned member of my community who is highly convinced that the fall of the radio station is the fall of the community at large.
It's an onslaught on participatory democracy, and a crucifixion of the voices of those that matter most in development, "the people".And it's a way of taking the development of the people away from them.

I'm worried though alone, I don't have the power.But together I know we've the power to get the station working again for the larger interest.
May God bless us all.

NB.I stand with the people (community) and the views above represent my personal views and not the that of the radio station.
Read more on ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com

By ANANPANSAH, B ABRAHAM
A Community Radio Youth Advocate
0241129910/0200704844

Damongo Youth Parliament Decries Child Inimical Game of Jackpot

Press Release
19/08/2016

Damongo Youth Parliament Decries Child Inimical Game of Jackpot

As children of society, our forbearers brought us to the know that, "it takes a whole community to raise a child".We also hold the strong conviction that there is hardly a bad child. We can only have bad elders, leaders, teachers, stakeholders inter alios that let children down...

It's against this backdrop that we write with a heavyheart to matriculate our consummate disapprobation of the rather approbiously infamous game called "Jackpot" which is coined colloquially as "Kolom" in Damongo township.

It's well to note that this game which has gained notoriety to the level of a blasphemy is developed by Chinese and introduced in unsuspecting communities such as ours to further break down the moral fiber of society.
Kolom as the children affectionately call it is a game of chance not mind in which children curiously deep coins into a slot machine, and only pray for the machine to roll out some or more of the coins as a win for them. Those coins remaining in the machine belongs to the owner.And tricky enough, the machine is preset to allow the unsuspecting children to win but not beyond a certain amount.It's a well rehearsed synonym for gamble or "Chacha".

Ad nauseam,It's or should be established that this uneducational game exclusive of the fact that it teaches children nothing in real sense, push them to steal from their parents and other available sources just to play the game.Our source has also revealed that most children forsake their household chores and academic work and make all the available time for this game.Not to overstate,by this game,children are being taught to sacrifice the value of hard work for easy cut to success in life and money. And we believe this is how future armed robbers and societal liabilities and nuisance are natured. 

It,however,flies in the face of reason that despite all the glaring odds associated with this game, stakeholders and authorities appear unaware or should we say unconcerned about the inroads it's making into our society.
It's equally crestfallen and we need not remind whoever sanctioned the operation of this game in the district that s/he is doing a great disservice not only to the future of the district but to these innocent kids.

We have also made our checks and are altogether aware that this game didn't start from West Gonja District. It's important to note that it has received wide societal disapproval and ban in some towns in gonjaland such as Buipe, Salaga and Busunu...So,is it the case that the the west (West Gonja) always deserve the bad and rejected?

We must state here and now that we're not oblivious of the fact that children at a certain age learn at best through games among others.But there can be more educational oriented games that this children can be introduced to.And we, as a youth can be of great help in that regard. Indeed, most of us have tried introducing such games in the past before and are still willing to do so if deemed necessary.

We wish on a very humble note to appeal to the appropriate authorities to act and redeem the image of our dear community for the seek of posterity.
We can't promise anything for now, but we can promise that if nothing is done to arrest this situation,we will not pause but apprehend all available medias to drum home a justified cause for community and country.

Long live the people of Damongo; long live gonjaland; long live Damongo Youth Parliament and may the good Lord continue to shower His blessings on us all.

Signed:Executive Board, Damomgo Youth Parliament (DYP)
Issued:ANANPANSAH, B ABRAHAM (AB)
0241129910/0200704844

2016 Elections Yet Indication Of The Beginning Of The End

2016 Elections yet indication of the beginning of the end
In his poem "Lochie Warning," Thomas Campbell alluded to the fact that "...coming events cast their shadows before".

Yes, coming events,indeed,cast their shadows before....
I've always wondered as much I've  pondered the faith of society taking into cognizance the kind of system we have running when I came to fully appreciate what Karl Max and Friedrich Eagles meant by fierce class struggle between the mercilessly oppressive "bourgeoisie's(the property owing class) and the peasant cum oppressed "proletariat's(the industrial working class) in their literature  "The Manifesto of the communist".
The factual realities of this literature will establish itself in the concluding part of this write-up!

Meantime,I'm sure it's not lost on you that the 2016 voter exhibition exercise which lasted for three weeks and afforded citizens the opportunity to verify their names and help clean the register ended last Sunday with reports of low turnout and amazing apathy in many polling stations across the country.This was despite the fact that the 2016 edition of the exhibition exercise took three weeks to complete as compared to the past where it lasted for two weeks...
Indeed, I made some time to visit one or two of the exhibition centers in my constituency and can also report that the situation is either worse or same as the media is reporting for other centers.

Thinking I'm surprised, right? No,'surprise' has never been contemplated as a word in this turn of events.As a matter of fact and in all conscience, I felt this coming. I sensed it. I prophesized it and philosophers even philosophised it...!

Don't you think it's hard to imagine and even arresting if only you don't shut your critical distance and margin that with barely four months to the general elections,the many political parties we have in the country are yet to unveil their campaign promises(Manifestoes) to the owners of power (the voter's) and give us reason(s) to entrust our legitimate power into their hands as mere trustees?
Even at that,the major political parties that are likely to gain the mandate of the people to exercise power have all exhibited to us their campaign teams but are uncompromisingly silent about exhibiting their Manifestoes;and at their usual best are accusing each other of what they described as 'fear of copy work."Flabberwhelming" and amazing,I guess?
What does this tell you? Well, for me,I think they are just interested in our votes and feel they owe us no responsibility to give reasons in return for same.After all,"some people can't think far and the Ghanaian voter can't think far some! Really!

Democratically cankerous enough,in all these, the media is abased as it's quiet, civil society is debased as it's hired and the ordinary man is at gazed as we are fired!It's amid such gloom,the EC out of no fault of theirs exhibited the voter's register when the People have not been shown an exhibit of any campaign message.Now, tell me what you would have expected if not apathy with no sympathy!

The hard truth in all these is that, we are likely to record a low turnout in the 2016 general elections.And the situation has never been different from the previous elections(Subject to your own assessment).
Infact, I have tangled myself in grassroot politics before and I continue to do so,howbeit,with limitations considering the fact that I've to reconcile such engagements with my role as a media person.And note-worthy without mincing words, I can tell you unequivocally that the Ghanaian voter is increasingly awakened and mad at the politician over his/her unjustified situation.
I tell you,when you hear rancorous expressions like, "I won't vote again! Politicians are liars! They are all the same!'Politrickcians' are corrupt..."Just know that they are simple expressions of the reality yet unborn...

And I will at this point implore you to take it or feel free to burn the sea,the days when the owner's of the land (proletarians) labour and plead unheeded before their exploiters and supposed masters/trustees(bourgeoisie's) is near collision...
It will mark "the beginning of what I christened the end";Where if you permit me to refer back to the literature I introduced earlier on;Karl Max (1818-1883) a revolutionary German economist and philosopher, and founder of the communist movement saw history as the story of class struggles, in which the oppressed fight against the oppressors. According to him, as history unfolded, the victory of one class would pave the way for the future freedom of the rest of society(see Karl Max and Friedrich Eagles(1886).The Manifesto of the communist:International Publishing Co.).

In such a society, the masses(underclass) will resent and rise against the nonsense in the system,and the days when the corrupt politicians and abusers of power oppressed and exploited the slaves and poor labourers(masses) will come to a perpetual end.
In such days, the bourgeoisification of society will ipso factor pave the way for the proletarians to establish a new classless society where the land, industry, labour, and wealth will be shared between all people pari passu. All people will have the right to education,access to health care and the basic necessities of life, and the class structures will disappear...No more first class citizens, second class..., third class... ad infinitum!
In such a society,corrupt chiefs and traditional authorities who have vouched to continually divide and cause anarchy(chieftaincy crises) in society will run leaving their sandals behind, and harmony will reign.Did I just say that? You know I can't possible say that alone. Blame Kwame Nkrumah for saying that first!

Today,the politician and wielders of the people's power can afford to misbehave and manipulate the fortunes of the people and wilfully refuse to awaken to the simple fact that:power is not attained for its own seek but is to be exercised for the common good of all....
They can continue to harden their hearts,corrupt their minds, bleed the public purse, stoss away in flashy cars and wasteful convoys at the tax payers expense whiles the masses wallow in abject poverty and struggle to catch expensive but nonexisting public transport (reference to the stampede I've ever been involved in struggling to board a public transport from Circle to Legon).

When those days come,maybe just maybe we will know where power actually lies and who power ideally belongs to. As the old colloquial adage will have it, "a word is enough for the wise; or do they usually say, 'a word to the wise is in the North?"
Until then, let's continue to pray for our dear country(Ghana), especially so,as we prepare to go to the polls in December that the almighty God will grant us victory of peace over war....
May God bless our homeland Ghana.
The writer is just a concerned Ghanaian youth who is entitled to his opinion just like any other meaningful Ghanaian.You may agree or disagree with my writeup.But don't do same for my person.
READ MORE ON MY BLOG:ananpansah-ab.blogspot.com

By:ANANPANSAH, B ABRAHAM(AB)
YOUTH ACTIVIST/RADIO PRESENTER
0241129910/0200704844 /aananapansah@gmail.com

We are the future and hope of our community

We are  the future and hope of our community

"The world's biggest power is the youth and the beauty of a woman"-Chanakya

Today,12th of August,2016, marks International Youth Day....And if you can vividly remember, sometime this same day(three years back), we launched for the first time in Damongo the International Youth Day Celebration and the Youth Manifesto with proud support from Denmark Civil society organisation, GCRN and Radio for Peace and Development.
That was the beginning of the journey that brought us this far...

But the interesting question remains:Have we really been able to do anything meaningful with the opportunity offered us, and our collaboration with relevant stakeholders for the benefit of the youth and our community? I say an emphatic yes, though with little challenges.

Three years down the memory lane, has the community benefited from our exuberance, and how does the future looks like if we hold onto the spirit of youth?

The future appears promising from where I stand as a youth,but only if we re-focus our sense of purpose and direction.
Let's ask ourselves, where we came from;what we stand for and where we want our community to be placed in the not too distant future!
We hold the power and the strength! Thankfully, we have listening and willing leaders to partner, edge us on and give us the needed push.
Hence, for most of the time, my heart bleed with pain, when I see us  trying to abuse this golden opportunity.

Instead of being actors of change, we turn ourselves into enemies of our community by the sort of things we do (Divisive politics and lack of respect for elders stemming from difference in political ideologies).
We turn ourselves into enemies of our community when we engage in unnecessary banter and throw salvos at each other.
We turn ourselves into enemies of our community when we try to reduce the integrity of this au-gust house, and refuse to measure the content of our messages...

This is the moment of sober reflection and deep introspection. We have achieved a lot, and we have fallen apart a lot.
But in all these, there is hope for the future, if we can pick and patch the pieces together.
Let's keep this in mind, "youth is not a time of life; it's a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple needs;it's a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotion; it's the freshness of the deep sprint of life"-Samuel Ullman

We are the hope of our community and country, and we are the flame that will spark the change and needed transformation in our dear community.

Long live the youth of Damongo!Long live Damongo and gonjaland as a whole, long live Damongo Youth Parliament (DYP); and may the good lord bless us all and fasten us together in unity of purpose for community and country.

By:ANANPANSAH, B ABRAHAM(AB)
Radio Presenter/Youth activist
0241129910