District Assembly Elections would be very competitive

Atebubu, (BA/R), April 15, GNA - Mr. Isaac Owusu-Mensah, Senior Programmes Manager of the Konrad Adeneuer Stiftung, (KAS) has predicted that the upcoming District Assemblies Election would be very competitive.

This is because the assemblies have played a very important role in our democratic dispensation.

Mr. Owusu-Mensah was addressing a three-day workshop on Local Governance at Atebubu, in the Atebubu-Amanten District in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

He explained that ruling governments would always have to depend on the members of the assemblies to approve the nominations of District Chief Executives, while opposition parties would use the composition as an opportunity to provide checks on the excesses of government's actions.

The workshop was on the theme: "2010 District Assembly Elections: The role of Civic Society Organizations in Ghana's Decentralization and Development Process".

Mr. Owusu-Mensah said KAS is one of the five German foundations which seek to promote the ideals of good governance across the globe through the support of social and economic reforms, strengthening of the role of Parliament and promoting broad-based decentralization at the grassroots level.

He encouraged the formation of strong civil society groups which, he said, could contribute to the healthy development of good governance for the proper functioning of the country's democracy.

Mr. Sanya Nanja, District Chief Executive (DCE) for the Atebubu-Amanten District, indicated that the district is one of the flash points when it comes to politics, adding that political activities in the area had often resulted in unnecessary confrontations, which were unhealthy for democracy.

He appealed to the people in the area to ensure the assembly election was conducted peacefully, saying that he would be grateful if more women were elected to have gender-balanced participation.

Mr. Nanja commended the KAS and the Ghana Trade Unions Associations (GUTA) for their interest in the area by educating the people about decentralization and local government concepts and expressed the hope that the women would contest the elections.

Mr. Yeboah Assiamah Jimmy, the Techiman Secretary of GUTA said the workshop had enabled members to have an objective appraisal of their performance.

He commended KAS for taking interest in grassroots democracy and urged the District Assemblies to take up the challenge to organize similar fora to educate people on Democratic Governance.

GNA