The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Daniel Botwe has called on Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) to exercise their functions well as slated in the Local Governance Act 2016, Act 936, to promote the decentralisation initiative.

He noted that the assemblies, as part of the Local Governance structure, were mandated to bring local governance to the people, adding they were in charge of the departments and all government projects in their jurisdiction.

“We all think there is an unfinished business in this decentralization thing. We have not paid much attention to it,” he said and called on the assemblies to be up and doing and ensure they go by their functions as stated in the Local Government Act, as well as take control of their development plan.

Mr Dan Botwe made these statements when he toured three municipalities including Lower Manya Krobo, New Juaben South and Abuakwa South in the Eastern region to inspect the progress of work made on the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Projects (GSCSP) which was funded by the World Bank.

The three municipalities, were among five other municipalities, including Upper West Akyem and Birim Central, in the region to have been selected to benefit from the project that was purposed to help to improve urban management and basic urban services in the beneficiary municipalities.

Construction of lockable stores, hostels, ultramodern markets, shopping mall, and redevelopment of the Koforidua Jacksons Park among other ongoing projects in the three municipalities were among 582 projects ongoing in 48 districts in the country.  

Mr Dan Botwe also paid courtesy call on the Okyenhene,Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin in Kyebi and Nene Sackitey II,Konor of Lower Manya Krobo.

Speaking further, Mr Botwe explained that per the Act, “an Assembly member cannot go for an assembly meeting without meeting the people in their jurisdiction and after every assembly meeting, the person has to go back to meet the people again. It is in the law.”

“Decentralization occurs when the people in the assemblies take their own decisions, prioritize their needs and take annual action plans to ensure their needs are met,” he said.

He called on the assemblies to ensure that they account to the people in their jurisdiction and make them aware of the many projects ongoing in their communities that were meant to benefit them.

Speaking on the GSCSP projects, he was glad about the progress made and called the assemblies to own the projects and ensure that they yielded the needed results.

He noted that capacity building of the Local Government Service staff was necessary to enable them to deliver quality services to the people in their jurisdiction and hence the need for more education and sensitization.

He revealed several collaborations have been made with the Local Government Service to build the capacities of staff of the assemblies to enable them to deliver quality services needed for accelerated development in their communities.

“Some Assemblies are doing well in terms of ranking, but in totality, the average person should feel the presence of government and they can feel the government through government structures like the assemblies, unit committees and through other sub-structures of the assembly,” he said

He called on the media to also ensure that they hold the assemblies accountable and ensure they performed their functions based on what has been slated in the Local Government Act.

For his part, the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin noted that the centrality of governance was outdated and called on the government to ensure that decentralization was embraced to ensure accountability, transparency, ownership and development.

“It is when the people own their projects that we can ensure the development of this country,” he said and called on the government to emulate other developed countries that have embraced decentralization.

The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Seth Acheampong said he was encouraged by the progress on the (GSCSP) and said if they continued in the region would achieve the needed development in the area.

From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua