Oguaa Assembly inaugurated

Cape Coast, Oct. 7, GNA - A total of 64 Assembly Members in Cape Coast were on Tuesday inaugurated to usher in the sixth Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies of the Fourth Republic.

They are made up of 45 elected members and 19 Government Appointees.

A Former Chief of Staff, Mr. Henry Martey Newman, who stood in for the President, expressed concern about the haphazard and unplanned structures sprawling around the country, and tasked the Department of Town and Country Planning and its allied agencies to correct the anomaly.

He observed that the members-elect were youthful; therefore, they needed to use their exuberance to step-up revenue mobilisation to facilitate the development of the area.

They should also ensure that the socio-political culture of the country was changed for the better by consciously working assiduously to help enhance the quality of the nation's democracy.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mrs. Priscilla Arhin-Korankye, told the assembly members that there were myriad of challenges that needed to be tackled.

She said they could not afford to fail the people who had reposed their confidence in them, and urged them to bring their expertise on board to develop the area.

'We will succeed if we all put our shoulders to support the wheel of development,' the MCE encouraged the members.

She reiterated the call to increase revenue mobilisation activities.

Mr. Atta Mensah, a Government Appointee, was later elected unanimously as the Presiding Member of the Assembly, after his contender, Mr. Lawrence Ampah, the Assemblyman for Abura Nkwantado, stepped down.

Earlier, some members had protested against the number of Government appointees, saying the 19 government appointees exceeded the 30 per cent of the 45 elected members, stipulated in the Local Government ACT 462.

GNA