Assemblies Told To Ensure Effective Management

By Edmund Mingle

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, has asked district assemblies to develop adequate measures towards effective management of their economies.

He said it is possible for the country to attain middle income status and achieve the Millennium Challenges Goals by 2015 "if our district assemblies are able to manage and control their local economies through public-private partnerships."

Opening a seminar on the Commonwealth Local Government Good Practice Scheme in Accra yesterday, he reminded the Assemblies that they have a crucial role to play in the socio-economic development of the country.

The scheme, developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat, provides a platform for local governance practitioners from Commonwealth countries to share ideas towards strengthening local government systems in their respective countries.

He said an important vehicle by which the country hopes to achieve local economic development was the Local Government Service which would facilitate the effective performance of the assemblies.

To that end, he said 30,000 civil servants were being transferred to the Local Government Service to strengthen its human resource and technical base.

Besides, he said, more resources would be made available to the assemblies to ensure improved service delivery and accelerated provision of social amenities.

Mr Adjei-Darko lauded the objective of the scheme and assured that the ministry will continue to collaborate with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) towards improving Ghana’s local governance.

Mr Carl Wright, Secretary-General of CLGF, in his remarks, said the two-day seminar, which is being attended by participants from Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, will also find ways of developing projects out of the outcomes of the scheme to benefit the assemblies and communities.

He said the seminar would also discuss ways of improving its partnership with the National Association of Local Authorities of Government to enable it to influence the local government policy making process.