Mr Aquinas Quansah, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development has called on unit committees of the Sunyani Municipal Assembly to be guided by the non-partisan system of the Local Government structure and work collectively in the interest of their localities. Inaugurating the unit committees on Friday, Mr Quansah stressed that as the lowest arm of the nation’s local government system, unit committees “play pivotal role in our decision making process as District Assemblies and in this regard the role of unit committees in local governance process cannot be overemphasized”. The Deputy Minister said the enactment of the local government instrument (Urban, Zonal, Town Councils and Unit Committees) (L.I.1967), which repealed and replaced the L.I. 1589 of 1994 had made changes to the structure, composition and functions of sub-district structures of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs). Mr Quansah noted that the changes had brought a drastic reduction in the number of unit committees from 16,000 to about 6000, “which makes it more manageable as compared to the larger numbers”. The changes, he said, included the concept of the Unit committee from a geographical to a functional concept, made the geographical jurisdiction of Unit Committees coterminous with that of the electoral area and the abolition of the appointment of five members of the Unit committee by the district chief executive on behalf of the President. “As members of unit committees, you need to take serious note of these new developments to guide your activities in the service to your communities in particular and the MMDAs in general to bring about the needed development to our people,” Mr Quansah added. He announced that a handbook had been developed to guide Unit Committee members in the performance of their functions and other activities. The books and would soon be distributed to them by the Assemblies. Source: GNA