NALAG holds regional conference at Bolgatanga

Bolgatanga, Aug. 15, GNA - The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu, on Thursday urged members of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), to redouble their efforts to meet the aims and objectives of the association.

He said the decentralisation policy requires a collective grassroots participation, mobilisation and monitoring of human and material resources to enhance local government administration. Mr Salifu said this when he addressed a one-day regional delegates' conference at Bolgatanga to elect a representative to the national association.

Mr Salifu observed that the Upper East Region has its own peculiar problems with regards to local government administration and urged that consensus would be built on the constraints at the conference to move the region forward.

The Regional Minister bemoaned the poor performance of many municipal and district assemblies in terms of internally generated revenue, misuse and abuse of government property, misappropriation of funds and other resources, saying, they could all be attributed to the lack of monitoring and ineffective supervision.

Mr Salifu was not also pleased that some districts had not put in place their sub structures with the excuse of the lack of funds. He therefore charged the conference to come out with suggestions to facilitate the decentralisation programme.

Mr Asare Ankomah, President of NALAG, in a speech read for him said the association supports the creation of new districts in accordance with the Constitution and Local Government Act, 1993, Act 462. He said the association is devoted to the efficient implementation of the decentralisation policy of the government and that some of the existing districts are too large to make for meaningful implementation of the decentralisation policy.

Mr Ankomah assured members that an improved constitution had been drafted for the NALAG, while the National Executive Council had decentralised the association to the regions to make more impact on the activities of members.

The Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Rockson Bukari, said the Assembly is faced with the problem of generating enough revenue to meet development targets.