Nii-Armah Ashitey, Municipal Coordinating Director for Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA), has called on the newly-elected assembly members to eschew partisanship and cooperate with each other for the development of the Municipality. He said the members must come together and work in tandem with the technocrats to achieve their collective vision and mandate in consonance with the stipulated functions enshrined in the constitution. This, he said, would ensure the rapid development of the municipality. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the sixth Assembly of GEMA, in Accra, Nii Ashitey said the Assembly Members needed to be actively involved in team work to bring meaningful change in their electoral areas. He pleaded with those returning to the Assembly after their re-election to demonstrate exemplary conduct so that the new members would emulate to facilitate good and speedy deliberations and work in the Assembly. 'In furtherance to this, I wish to also appeal to you all to leave the past things behind and let us, together, start on a fresh note, in the interest of the development of the Municipality,' he added. Nii Ashitey indicated that there would be various programmes, internally and externally, particularly for the new members to orient them to be acquainted with the operations of the Assembly. This, he said would help them understand and appreciate the roles and responsibilities that were expected of them. He urged them to put their shoulders to the wheels and push together to a successful end, adding that 'we have a collective duty to advance the development of the Municipality.' Alhaji Aminu Amadu, Member of Council of State, said government remained keen on building the leadership capacity and retooling the Institute of Local Governance Studies (ILGS) of the Assemblies. 'The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (LGDRD) through the ILGS will in the next few weeks hold orientation and training for Assembly members to enable them to appreciate the expected roles an d responsibilities,' he added. He said LGDRD had formulated several policies that contributed towards the national agenda which included national decentralisation policy and strategy, national urban policy and action plan, local economic development policy and action plan as well as national rural development policy, among others. According to Alhaji Amadu government in its quest to address the major challenges relating to unplanned and haphazard development in Assemblies, would hold consultative meetings with ILGS and Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) to apprise the citizenry on the guidelines for planning and development permitted in Ghana. 'Let me remind you that your people require your selflessness, devotion to duty, accountable stewardship, and above all, the ability to articulate their needs to guide the district development agenda, and ultimately improve the quality of their livelihoods and wellbeing.' Alhaji Amadu noted that good governance entailed active participation of the citiz enry in the development process saying Assembly members must create an enabling platform, which includes town hall meetings, community durbars, among others for good development. He said efforts were made by the government through the MLGDRD to improve on the mobilisation of Internally Generated Funds (IGFs) of the MMDAs. He appealed to the public to work closely with each other to create innovative ways of mobilising the needed resources for the development of the various communities. Source: Ghana News Agency