James Gunu: Let us put Local governance at par with Parliament

Individuals seeking to serve as lawmakers in Parliament have been urged to consider service at the Local Assembly level to enhance community development.

Mr James Gunu, Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said the quality of individuals that contest Parliamentary seats and their commitment to attaining the position could be of great transformation to local governance, if they sought to also avail themselves at the district level.

He said there was an unhealthy balance of quality between Parliament and the Local Assemblies, that the latter needed to be elevated to help complement the work of the former.

The Regional Secretary made the call while briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the vetting of aspirants for the upcoming primaries of the NDC.

He said Parliamentary aspirants with their resources would not only improve the quality of the membership of Local Assemblies but would also work to benefit local community development.

“I want to encourage the aspirants that politics is not all about going to Parliament. I also believe in our local governance system, that many of them should be concerned about deepening our decentralised and local governance system by taking advantage of the next Assembly elections coming.

“Pushing all good materials into Parliament affects the quality at the Assembly level. If you elect weaker Assembly Members and stronger Parliamentarians, the superstructure would be heavier than the substructure.

“We must look at this to have a balanced system of parliamentary democracy and decentralised governance in the country. Both opportunities bring advantages and aspirants should consider Assembly membership,” Mr Gunu stated.

All 75 aspirants contesting the parliamentary primaries were cleared at vetting, and the Regional Secretary said those that would not make it to Parliament should look at contributing at the Local Assemblies.

Mr Gunu asked, “We have exceptionally good, excellent materials, but out of the 75, only 18 will go to Parliament. Where do we put the rest?

The parliamentary primaries would be held on May 13 in all constituencies, and there are a total of 15 women among the 75 aspirants, all who had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the contest, its processes and outcome.