ASSESSING THE ROLE OF THE ASSEMBLY MEMBER IN PROMOTING LOCAL LEVEL DEVELOPMENT IN THE LAWRA DISTRICT OF UPPER WEST REGION, GHANA

Abstract

There is no denying the genuine fact that, contemporary development practitioners, not excluding other major stakeholders in the development arena are certainly not oblivious of the simple fact that, policies of successive governments over the years in respect of local level development have either not been implemented or materialised as expected thereby accounting for the obvious under development at the local level. The study, therefore, sought to assess the role the Assembly Member in promoting local level development in the Lawra district. The study sets out to actually assess the role played over the years by the Assembly Members regarding the promotion of development at the local level as it is obligatory on them to do so. The data used for the analysis was obtained through qualitative and quantitative methods such as interviews including focus group discussions among others. The sampling procedure was generally purposive in nature particularly for the Assembly Members, Staff of the district assembly, the only paramount Chief and the five (5) divisional Chiefs and four (4) Pog Namine (Queen Mothers). Simple random sampling was also employed for the other set respondents. The research design was partly descriptive and explorative. It was revealed during the analysis that, majority of the people in the Lawra district have acknowledged and recognised the fact that, their Assembly Members are doing their very best in terms of promoting development at the local level which is line with their mandated roles and www.udsspace.uds.edu.gh responsibilities. Some of such roles include advocating and lobbying Central government, the District Assembly and other development partners for various development interventions for their communities, mobilising and taking part in communal labour, attending social gatherings among others. The study also discovered that there are, however, certain challenges militating against the assembly members in the discharge of their mandated functions as stated in the Local Government Act (Act462, 1993). Lack of motivation, lack of adequate resources to aid the timely execution of identified projects from Central government and the district assembly among others are some of the challenges assembly members are faced with in the performance of their duties. Based on the above, therefore, the study recommends that the necessary resources be made readily avaible to assembly members to facilitate them to discharge their duties diligently in an effective manner to ensure and enhance local level development