The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), must be bracing themselves to defend a legal suit for allegedly subverting the local government Act 462 of 1993. In further breach of the law, foot soldiers have taken over Sub-Metro Councils without regard to the dictates of Legislative Instruments 1805, which replaces L.I 1614, on amendment with the connivance of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. The Chronicle newspaper has gathered that some assembly members of the KMA are contemplating hauling the government and the KMA to court, as a result of the implementation of wrong establishments. The proposed action is for the breach of Article 241 of the Constitution which established the Local Government System, as well as L.I 1805 rules and regulations establishing the Sub-Metro Council. The concerned assembly members would question why the government for six months created a vacuum in the operations of the MMDA’s from October, 2010 to March, 2011, thereby permitting MMDCE’s to spend when no budgets had been approved by the various Assemblies. The Ministry of Local Government is still relying on the provisions of L.I. 1614 which regulated the operations of the previous four Sub-Metro Councils which have since been replaced with ten Sub Metro Councils. The inauguration of Sub-Metro Councils came into force almost seven years late after the then existing four Sub-Metro Councils were dissolved. L.I 1805 stipulates that each Sub-Metro Council shall comprise 40 members including a Deputy Chief Executive, elected assembly members in the Sub-Metro Councils without the involvement of the Assembly. Currently, the Sub-Metro Councils in Kumasi are operating with a maximum of 30 members, made up of nine elected assembly members and 21 government appointees, as provided for by the amended L. I. 1614, without any representation of the Unit Committees. As a result, there are 210 foot soldiers appointed at the ten Sub-Metro Councils in the Kumasi Metropolis, purported to create jobs for the boys to champion an agenda to the advantage of the ruling NDC at election 2012. To achieve this objective, all but two of the Sub-Metro Councils are being chaired by the NDC constituency chairmen, to execute the perceived hidden agenda of the government. When the Chronicle newspaper checked, the Sub-Metro Councils at Suame, Kwadaso, Asokwa, Oforikrom, Subin, Manhyia and Bantama Sub Metro Council were indeed chaired by NDC constituency chairmen, with the Constituency Secretary heading the Asawase Sub-Metro Council. Nhyiaeso and Tafo Sub-Metro Councils are chaired by assembly members who have sympathy towards the NDC. The Administrator at the Suame Sub-Metro Council, perceived to be an NPP man, has been replaced, paving the way for the Sub-Metro Councils to be turned into NDC Secretariats for political activities. Last April, 2011, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, was in Kumasi to inaugurate the Sub-Metro Councils without the involvement of the Assembly. The concerned assembly members have questioned why the inauguration of Get Atta Mills Endorsed (GAME) took place at the KMA premises, against the fact that the presiding member’s office has been relocated outside the KMA premises, with Assembly meetings also being held outside the premises, against the provisions of Model Standing Orders for MMDAs. Part 6, clause 1 of the Standing Order says all meetings of Assembly shall be held within its administrative area, while clause 2 indicates that all ordinary meetings shall be held at the headquarters of the Assembly. Clause 3 of the Standing Order says, “All other meetings shall be held at places to be determined by the assembly on resolution,” but The Chronicle can say on authority that no such resolution regarding extension has been done by the KMA as an Assembly. Currently, the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council, which core functions include evaluating, Co-ordinating and Monitoring of activities of various assemblies, is also said to be in breach of Section 146 Sub section 3 of Act 462. For the past two and half years that the NDC has been in office, the Ashanti RCC has met only once even though it is supposed to submit annual report to the President, three months within each other year, upon approval by the Council. The Chronicle newspaper is also informed that while the Assembly was yet to be reconstituted, about 200 NDC foot soldiers were arbitrarily recruited from all the ten Sub-Metro areas to augment the numerical strength of the Metro City Guards, without the approval of an Assembly. It is this and other concerns, that the concerned assembly members have resolved to go to court any time soon to awaken the conscience of the government, regarding operations of the Local Government system and possibly reverse the subversive acts. Source: The Chronicle/Ghana