Educate Ghana Week: Duties of The Assembly Member in Ghana

The duties of a member of the District Assembly, or the duties of the Assembly member, are defined in Section 16 of the Local Governance Act, 2016 — Act 936. Performance of these duties by members are essential for the Assembly’s discharge of their deliberative, legislative and executive functions.

A member of the District Assembly who has firm knowledge of the duties as prescribed by the law is empowered to provide quality representation to his electorate or community.

On the other hand, communities that have a good understanding of the duties that the law imposes on an Assembly member may be better equipped to demand accountability of their local representative in the Assembly.

Now, the duties that the law charges a member of a District Assembly perform are enumerated as follows:

A member of a District Assembly shall as appropriate

1. Maintain close contact with the electoral area of the District Assembly, consult the people of the electoral area on issues to be discussed in the District Assembly, collate their views, opinions, and proposals;
2. Present the views, opinions and proposals of the electorate to the District Assembly;
3. Attend meetings of the District Assembly and meetings of sub-committees of which that member of the District Assembly is a member;
4. Meet the electorate before each meeting of the District Assembly;
5. Report to the electorate the,

(i) General decision of the District Assembly: and

(ii) Actions the member has taken to solve problems raised by residents in the electoral area;

6. Draw attention in general debate to national policies that are relevant to the subject under discussion;
7. Actively participate in the work of the sub-committees of the Executive Committee;
8. Bring to bear on any discussion in the District Assembly the benefit of the skill, profession, experience or specialised knowledge of the member;
9. Maintain frequent liaison with organised productive economic groupings and other persons in the district; and
10. Take part in communal and development activities in the district.

Act 936 also directs that a member of a District Assembly shall, in the discharge of the duty, have due regard to the national interest and the interest of the people in the district.

These are the duties that an Assembly member must perform and that’s what you must demand of your representative in the Assembly.

 

Source: MyGhanaMedia.com

 

 

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