Avoid partisanship, Minister advises assemblies

Bawku, (Upper East), 9th June 99 -

Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper East Regional Minister, has reminded district assemblies to avoid partisan tendencies in the discharge of their functions.

"Even though assembly members may have their individual political affiliations, they should always bear in mind that they are in the assembly to represent the interests of the people".

Addressing the third ordinary meeting of the first session of the Bawku East district assembly Alhaji Suleman said : "if we allow our assembly to be divided along party or ethnic lines, we may end up never reaching a consensus on vital issues to the detriment of the people we represent".

He said certain provisions in the 1992 constitution prohibit discrimination and prejudice on grounds of ethnic origin, gender, religion or circumstances of birth.

Alhaji Sulemana regretted that some communities and traditional areas lag behind in development because of land, ethnic and chieftaincy disputes, and urged that such negative tendencies be curbed before they destroy the nation's social fabric.

Mr Dominic Akudago, Bawku East district chief executive, said the assembly had, as at April this year, bagged 395.9 million cedis in revenue out of an anticipated 515.2 million cedis from traditional sources for the year.

The assembly has completed area council offices, and disbursed loans totalling 116 million cedis to 45 local groups under its poverty alleviation programme.