Mr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Energy, has urged assembly members to acquaint themselves with the relevant laws on local governance to avoid conflicts. This, he said, would also help to equip the assembly members to perform their duties and responsibilities without interfering with the activities of chiefs, opinion and religious leaders, and others. Mr Prempeh, in a speech delivered on behalf of the President of Ghana during the inauguration of the Keta Municipal Assembly in the Volta region, said government remained keen on building a capacity leadership environment and retooled the Institute of Local Governance Studies (ILGS) among the assemblies. 'The Ministry of Local Governance, 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 and responsibilities,' he stated. He said LGDRD has formulated several policies that contributed towards the national agenda w hich include national decentralisation policy and strategy, rural and urban development policies, and action plans, among others. Mr Prempeh further stated that the 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. 'Let me remind you that your people require your selfless, devotion to duty, accountable stewardship, and above all, the ability to articulate the needs of the people and guide the district development agenda, and ultimately improve the quality of the livelihoods and wellbeing,' the Minister said. He emphasised that good governance entailed active participation of the citizenry in the development process. 'Assembly members must create an enabling platform, which includes town hall meetings, community durbars, among others.' Dr Matthew Prempeh said efforts were made by the government through the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) to improve on the mobilisation of Internally Generated Funds (IGFs) of the MMDAs. He appealed to the public to cooperate with the various assembly members for the development of the various communities. Meanwhile, the Assembly members after the swearing-in ceremony, failed to elect a Presiding Member since the candidates were unable to get two-thirds of the required votes. Source: Ghana News Agency