Tema West Receives Seed Money And Logistics

The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) says it provided seed money and logistics to its baby assembly, the Tema West Municipal Assembly (TWMA) when it was ceded off.

Mr Samuel Donkor, Tema Metropolitan Coordinating Director, told the Ghana News Agency that the TMA rented the office accommodation for the TWMA as directed by the Greater Accra Regional Minister who chaired the regional transitional team for the creation of the new assemblies.

Mr Donkor was responding to an accusation from Mrs Adjoa Amoako, Tema West Municipal Chief Executive, indicating that TMA did not give them seed money, vehicles and logistics thus making it impossible for them to absorb the remaining 17 of 69 Internally Generated Fund (IGF) staff offloaded to the new assembly.

He stated that TMA paid huge monies in United States Dollars to the property owner as rent for the office premises for three years to accommodate TWMA adding his outfit just completed paying the second instalment of the rent.

He further explained prior to the ceding off, several meetings were held and instructions issued by the Regional Minister to the effect that the mother assembly were to cede off both human and material logistics and acquire an office accommodation for the operations of the TWMA.

According to him, in accordance with that arrangement, TMA released four vehicles in average condition made up of one land cruiser and four pick-ups and an additional vehicle which was at the workshop at the time of the inauguration.

Mr Donkor further explained that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development also acquired the needed furniture which he provided transportation to cart to the premises of the TWMA.

He noted that TMA also received 20,000 Ghana Cedis from the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) with the instructions that 10,000 should be used towards the inauguration and the remaining 10,000 presented to the new assembly.

He disclosed that they gave TWMA their share of GH¢10,000 and added GH¢20,000 to what was due them to organize the inauguration which cost them GH¢30,000.

Touching on the human resource, he said the mother assemblies were to offload one-third of their IGF staff to the baby assemblies noting that even though the TMA had over 300 IGF staff, only 69 were offloaded to TWMA.

He expressed misgivings at the way the new assembly had treated 17 of the offloaded staff as they were yet to be absorbed, even though the Regional Minister had directed the MCE to allow the affected workers to work.

Mr Donkor questioned the basis for which TWMA had refused to absorb the workers after several back and forth, resulting in their temporarily unemployment and left without any income through no fault of theirs.

He stated that TWMA had frustrated the workers to the extent that they had taken the TMA to the Labour Commission.

According to him, a bigger part of the TMA's revenue collection base had been ceded to the TWMA therefore they had no excuse of lack of revenue or logistics to frustrate the 17 offloaded workers.