Dr Nana Ato Arthur, the Head of Local Government Service, has urged the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the country to ensure the delivery of quality service at the local level.
Dr Arthur pledged to build the capacity of members saying government would give priority to staff development to enhance their capacity to meet their challenges.
Speaking at a familiarisation visit to heads of the MMDAs in Accra, Dr Arthur said the existing capacity building framework designed by the Service would be adhered to.
He said the Service would continue to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of regional coordinating councils (RCCs) and MMDAs as well as ensure that the proper fundamentals were in place for the smooth election of MMDCEs.
Dr Arthur said it was imperative to empower MMDAs on best practices in decentralisation and local governance through twining; good sister-city partnership, to enable the municipalities or districts to learn best practices from each other.
“It is my vision to promote ICT to improve revenue mobilisation in the MMDAs since the revenue base of any assembly was crucial for its development. We need to take advantage of it to improve on revenues and reduce the over reliance on government releases to finance development projects,” he said.
He said the Service would embark on a crusade to ensure that digital mapping system was embraced by the assemblies to improve revenue source identification and collection.
“It is my dream to have the planning units of the RCCs and MMDAs strengthened to be able to compile a reliable database on the revenue potentials of the various assemblies. This resource databank can be used to provide the basis and direction for businessmen to invest in the districts”.
He explained that the initiative fit into government’s policy of ‘one district, one factory’ as the MMDAs could assist to provide some basic infrastructure to support small scale industries and enhance local economic development.
Dr Arthur said the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development had introduced projects such as the Ghana Social Opportunity Projects, and the Ghana Urban Management Pilot Programme which were being implemented to provide the needed support and resources for the assemblies.
He called for total support and extreme loyalty on the part of all staff and hard work to maximise productivity.
Dr Arthur pledged to provide the requisite leadership, manage the human resources and promote the organisational development of the service to positively respond to the needs and aspirations of all stakeholders.
“This is critical because we need to succeed and become the World Class decentralised and client oriented local government service as per our vision.”
Mr Ishmael Ashitey, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, said the fundamental requirement for sustainable development was good governance and that government was committed to the establishment of solid and efficient machinery for good governance.
He said government had introduced the District Development Fund and the Urban Development Grant to augment the District Assemblies Common Fund for the assemblies to undertake development projects.
The Minister urged the staff to learn to respect time and uphold the service delivery standards at all times, be transparent in dealing with clients and eschew all corruptible practices which created bad image for the public.
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(Via: Ghana/Accra News)
