Local Government Act to be amended

Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (LGRM) on Thursday said the Local Government Act 462 is to be amended to broaden the scope of the local government structure.

He said; "in addition the law on the minimum population threshold would also be amended to link the size of the district population to the national population in terms of percentage.

"A new district would have about 0.06 per cent of the national population," Mr Baah Wiredu stated at the third and last of series of roundtable discussion on: "Towards Election 2004: The Creation of New District Assemblies."

The Act empowers the President to create new districts on the recommendation of the Electoral Commission (EC) based on their population threshold, economic viability of the area in providing basic infrastructure and had the potential for sustainable revenue generation.

The requirement also includes the geographical contiguity and the ethnic homogeneity.

Mr Baah Wiredu said the amendment sought to address the lopsided development and lack of equity in the spatial distribution of service and infrastructure.

He noted that an all-embracing policy for urban and human settlements development that would broaden programmes for the districts to the local levels would be introduced.

The Minister said the Sub-District Structures would also be strengthen to broaden the distribution of services in the districts with a formula for the Area, Town, Urban and Zonal Councils to have their share of the District Assemblies' Common Funds; Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Funds and other grants for development.

Mr Baah Wiredu said the government had also initiated actions to improve situations at the local level to stem the tide of petitions for new districts.

They include streamlining the membership and numbers of the sub-district political institutions to make them more manageable and viable.

It would also improve the capacity of Assembly functionaries and staffs to enhance their output and also facilitate the promotion of good governance and balanced development to enable the public to develop confidence in the local government system.

The Local Government Minister said: "It is my expectation that when all these programmes are effectively prosecuted the local governments will be well positioned to effectively contribute to the total development of the country.

The forum, which was attended by Political Party representatives, Members of Parliament, the Academia, Student Bodies, Journalists, Electoral Officials, Civic Educators and a cross-section of the public was organised by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development in collaboration with the Friedrich Nuamann Foundation.

The participants called for the suspension of the creation of new districts and constituencies for Elections 2004.

They expressed concern about the financial implications, the risk of being politicised to disturb the general election.