Agona East Assembly Members Reject Sitting Allowance

Members of the newly created Agona East District Assembly have rejected the two Ghana cedis offered them as sitting allowance and threatened to boycott subsequent meetings if the amount was not increased. The action was taken after a special meeting of the Assembly at Agona Nsaba to form sub committees and to debate two motions. The motions were whether to complete the existing office building or wait for the Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Environment to approve the designs for new offices to be constructed. The motions were deferred to the next meeting to be held next month. Mr Darling M. Armah, Assemblyman for Nsaba Saalem Electoral Area said the money given was “too small” and described it as an insult because lorry fares had gone up due to an increase fuel prices. He said there was the need for the authorities of the Assembly to adopt effective strategies to make the newly created district attractive to Assembly members, heads of department, chiefs and other experts to “fast track” the development of the area. Mr. Armah said if the situation continued in the subsequent meetings members would advice themselves. He said authorities of the assembly had treated them unfairly because some of them travelled for long distances to attend the meeting and this could demoralize them from patronizing assembly sessions. Mr. Eric Bediako Oppong, Agona West Municipal Coordinating Director, told the GNA that the payment of two Ghana Cedis to the members was an adhoc measure since no allowance had been approved by the members of the Assembly. He said the assembly was a new one and resources had to be tapped to enable them to receive decent allowances. Mr. Ben Mensah, Agona West Municipal Chief Executive said the members should be content with the amount given them because the Agona West Assembly was spending from its own resources. He assured members that the two Ghana Cedis would be increased and urged them to work hard to support the revenue generation of the newly created district.