By Stephen K. Effah
Wednesday, 02 April 2008
THE Weija Municipal Assembly has presented a resolution to the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) seeking to change the name of the assembly to "Ga South" as given recently by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheikh I.C. Quaye.
Reacting to the Times publication of Monday, March 31, on the alleged invalidity of the new name "Ga South", Christian Marbell, Municipal Co-ordinator, said the resolution was unanimously agreed on and signed by all the assembly members at an emergency meeting held on March 12.
He showed a copy of the resolution to the Times yesterday, and said that it is expected to be forwarded to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment for it to be worked on.
He said the assembly, after careful deliberation, resolved to adopt the new name to reflect the diversity of the areas under the newly-created assembly.Maxwell K. Dwumah, a Deputy Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, last Friday told the Times that the new name is invalid since the Legislative Instrument establishing the municipality has not yet been changed to reflect the new name.
The resolution in part reads: "We members of the Weija Municipal Assembly have, today, resolved that the name Weija Municipal Assembly be changed to Ga South Municipal Assembly".
It noted that historically, the assembly formed part of the erstwhile Ga Rural District, out of which Ga West and Ga East were created.
As a result, it noted that "all previous districts carved out of the erstwhile Ga Rural District have consistently retained the prefix "Ga" to reflect the common traditional roots of communities of the area".
The resolution explained that adopting the new name would engender the feeling of belongingness which is required among the several villages, towns, communities, traditional areas and the constituencies which fall within the municipality for a successful local governance.
It also said the new name would promote unity, peace and cooperation that are needed for "effective mobilisation of the available human and material resources towards the rapid socio-economic development of the municipality".
Mr Marbell explained that the prefix "Ga" is a historical antecedent that must be followed.
He said that at the meeting to pass the resolution, the assembly members argued that in view of the fact that a lot of constituencies, towns, and villages form the assembly, "it is prudent to give it a neutral name, otherwise those towns outside Weija will feel left out".
It is recalled that the Regional Minister was compelled to rename the assembly Ga South at the last minute of its inauguration on February 29, to avert a possible clash between the Gbawe Kwatei Royal Family and the people of Weija, over the name for the municipality.
While the Gbawe Kwatei family protested against the naming of the new assembly as Weija Municipal Assembly, the citizens of Weija requested that the name be maintained.
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