Rawlings Reaffirms Faith In District assemblies

Accra President Jerry John Rawlings yesterday reaffirmed government's faith in the district assembly concept and said multi-party democracy must not be allowed to ''kill the spirit of the District Assemblies''. "You are our direct link with the mainstream of our people. You are the vital link in the machinery of the government'', he said when closing a two-day seminar for District Chief Executives (DCEs) at the Staff College in Accra. He told them that their job is a difficult one but whatever they do, they must not let the people down and this would require a lot of sacrifice. "It is important that we conduct ourselves in such a way as to win genuine respect and confidence which will give us the time needed to put our programmes firmly in place'', the President said. He told the DCEs that while they might be working hard their people might not notice it. "While we work hard for projects to come to fruition so that the lives of our people are changed for the better, our political opponents will like to whip up impatient frustrations of our people against us'', President Rawlings said.