The Minister for Local Government Decentralisation and Rural Development, Mr Daniel Botwe has called for collaboration among agencies under the Ministry to address the challenges facing communities at the local level.
He said that during a meeting of the Local Government Service (LGS) and the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), and the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) on human resource management and capacity-building responsibilities for effective local governance in Accra.
According to him, the Local Government Act talks about the bottom-up approach of where policies and activities of the District Assemblies should be reflected on the people at the local level.
He called for the Ministry’s involvement in the activities of both the Local Government Service and its related stakeholders through engagement for efficient delivery.
“There must be results from local government staff to meet the aspiration of the people,” saying the legal instrument of the Local Government Act provides a better collaboration between the ILGS and the LGS.
He highlighted the monitoring and evaluation roles of the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) at the regional level as vital to the development of the council, urging the RCCs to ensure the right use of resources, especially project funds to reduce audit infractions.
Mr Botwe directed all the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to have a data room for spatial planning per the LUSPA Act 2016 (Act 925) for effective and efficient delivery of land use and spatial planning and discussion.
He called for periodic training to build the capacity of MMDAs staff to enable them to deliver on their mandate.
He urged District Assembly staff to be sensitive to vulnerable groups in their jurisdiction and ensure the Departments of Social Development works to make life easy for them.
On his part, the Chairman of the Local Government Council, Dr David W. Essaw stated that the RCC is championing the Local Government agenda in Ghana from a different perspective.
He called for the standardisation in the recruitment of Local Government staff and was hopeful that deliberations by the two Councils would bring the needed results.
Priscilla Nimako, ISD
