General News of Friday, 4 August 2017
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2017-08-04
Nana Ekua Appeatsewa II, Tufuhene of Abura State
Some queen mothers in the Central region are calling on knowledgeable and experienced persons to be elected as assembly members in order to hold the various assemblies accountable.
According to the queen mothers, it is appalling how the position of assembly members have been left to people most of whom are incompetent and lack the necessary expertise to help in the entrenchment of democracy in the country.
Speaking on a STAR Ghana, Coastal TV partnership to deepen democracy at the grassroots level the traditional authorities also bemoaned how the various assemblies fail to consult their electorate and the traditional councils before projects are executed.
They discussed the mandate of Assembly members’ and their responsibility after they have been elected into office.
After the deliberations and engagement, some of the queen mothers registered their dissatisfaction at the quality of people who are elected to represent their people at the Assembly.
“I really have an issue with the standard of education of some of the Assembly members. I can point to one or two that I cannot believe that these are the people who are taking our issues to the president,” Nana Ekua Appeatsewa II, Tufuhene of Abura State, told Joy News’ Richard Kwadwo Nyarkoh.
She said the situation is worrying, as some of them cannot even communicate let alone represent their people in every sense of the word.
She recounted her story about when she shared with friends her desires to represent her people before she became a queen mother.
According to her, they were against the decision saying her level is too high for the Assembly member position because she was too educated.
Some of the queen mothers also complained about the failure of some Assemblies to consult with chiefs and other traditional rulers before projects are executed.
“We are sad because some of them treat us as if we do not exist as most of the time, it is the politicians who dictate and before we know about it the decision has been taken,” Nana Mbrobah Daboah I of Anomabo said.
“This is bringing a whole lot of confusion as they pass through the Assemblies to execute projects and we are left in the dark,” she added.
