[ 2016-02-11 ]

MMDAs must have offices for Independent Governance Institutions - Ahwoi
Accra, Feb. 10, GNA – All Metropolitan,
Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) must
have functional offices for Independent Governance
Institutions (IGIs) in their jurisdiction, in
order to ensure good governance, transparency and
accountability.

Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, Lecturer, Ghana Institute
of Management and Public Administration, said as
far as practicable, MMDAs must ensure that
independent constitutional bodies such as
Commission on Human Rights and Administrative
Justice, Ghana Audit Service, and Electoral
Commission, among others have office and staff
accommodation, vehicles logistics and equipment to
make them functional in their dominion.

He said under the new decentralization programme
60 per cent of the national budgetary allocation
is for the MMDAs; hence the need for the IGIs to
be in every administrative district to ensure
transparency and accountability.

Prof Ahwoi, who is also a local government expert
and a former Minister of Local Government and
Rural Development, was speaking on Tuesday in
Accra at a day’s workshop on “Inter-Service
and Sectoral Collaboration and Co-operation System
(ISCCS)”.

The workshop was organised by the Local Government
Service (LGS) for participants from the IGIs,
decentralized and deconcentrated/non-decentralised
sectors and departments.

Prof Ahwoi cautioned that without functional IGIs
in place at each MMDAs, central government’s
budgetary allocations to them could easily be
mismanaged.

He said the purpose of the ISCCS is to facilitate
unity of effort, achieve common objectives;
provide common understanding and development of an
effective local platform to work.

On the new Consolidated Local Government Draft
Bill, Prof Ahwoi said it would soon be placed
before cabinet for endorsement and subsequent
submission to Parliament for approval.

He said under the Bill, the District Assemblies
Common Fund of 1994, the Local Government Act of
1993, the Local Government Service Act of 2003,
the Internal Audit Agency Act of 2003, the Public
Procurement Act of 2003 and LI 1964 of 2009 are
being considered for a review.

He said Ghana needs a binding decentralisation
policy which cannot be altered by any successive
governments in the future.

Mr F. N. Andan, the Chairman of the LGS Council,
said the development and implementation of an
ISCCS would enhance holistic planning and
judicious use of resources for efficient and
effective service delivery.

Dr Callistus Mahama, the Head of the LGS, said as
an effective system for integrated service
delivery, the ISCCS takes various forms such as
inter institutional engagement, networking and
communication, coordination of functions, resource
and service sharing, capacity development,
definition of reporting relationship, conflict
resolution and joint service delivery.

Nana Kwesi Agyekum Dwamena, the Head of Civil
Service, said decentralization is all about
service delivery and the people of Ghana.

He pledged the Civil Service’s full support for
the implementation of the decentralisation
programme; further declaring that “we need to
collaborate to avoid duplication of functions”.

Source - GNA

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