Six months after the inauguration of Districts Assemblies across the country, the Lower Manya Krobo District Assembly (LMKDA) - which was recently elevated to the status of a municipality- is still reeling under the numerous effects of having to run without elected District Assembly members. The enumerable effects of the suspended election have virtually stagnated projects and the overall progress of the district. The Assembly election in the district was suspended last year following a Supreme Court injunction due to a raging boundary dispute over Akuse, between Lower Manya Krobo District in the Eastern Region, and the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region which has also been split into two autonomous districts Ningo-Prampram and Shai- Osudoku. At present, the LMKDA is yet to have its budget for the fiscal year as well as the supplementary budget approved because the Assembly Members for the 31 electoral areas with the collective mandate to do so have since not been elected. Most development projects in the district have come to a standstill because of the lack of funds and new ones supposed to be rolled out have all been shelved. The Assembly also risks forfeiting the 2011 District Assembly Development Fund (DDF) of not less than GHS 600,000 (six billion Old Ghana Cedis) at the end of this fiscal year because it is falling short of the requirement for accessing the fund as detailed in the Functional Organisational Assessment Tool (FOAT) of the District Assembly. Per the requirement, the District Assembly must have had a minimum of four (4) General Meetings (GM) by the end of the year and must have worked within the approved budget – which is even yet to be approved. As part of the criteria for accessing the fund, it is expected of the assembly to have in place an Audit Report Implementation Committee (AIRC) and functioning sub district structures including Sub Committees, Unit Committees and Area Councils but which is not the case, making the Assembly more liable. In an interview with the District Chief Executive (DCE), Isaac Agbo Tetteh said because the District Assembly is not in session his outfit has had to forward the Assembly’s budget to the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) at Koforidua for approval. He added that the budget is currently receiving attention a t the RCC. He indicated that the Ministry of Local Government and Rural development is putting in place a nine (9) member Interim Management Team (IMT) to steer the affairs of the district until the election and inauguration of the District Assembly Members. Some of the projects in the 2011 Approved Development Plan of the district which have been affected include an upgrade of the Agormanya Market - the biggest commercial center in the district – into a modern trade center to enhance revenue generation for the assembly as well as the construction of a Tilapia Resort at Kpong on the Volta Lake to boost eco-tourism, trade and revenue in the district. The DCE disclosed that the assembly is also holding on with the planned redevelopment of the Olympic-size sport stadium at Aklomuase which was started during the Acheampong regime in the 70’s but has been left fallow ever since. He said the intended facelift of the Odumase lorry park as well as the construction of major drains to prevent the incessant flooding of low-lying communities in the district are suffering a similar fate because the assembly is not in session to ratify and execute the development plan. The DCE also indicated that as it stands now, the assembly cannot go ahead with its intended privatization of revenue collection as captured in the development plan to ensure efficiency in the revenue collection, adding “we are all hoping for a speedy resolution of the impasse to relieve the assembly of the current predicament”.