The Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Hon. Daniel Botwe has begun a three-day official working visit to some communities in the Ashanti Region as part of his 2023 working tour to the Assemblies for proper coordination between the Regional Coordinating Councils and the Assemblies.

The tour took the Minister to the Ashanti Region Coordinating Council (ARCC), the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, the Oforikrom and Ejisu Municipal Assemblies, as well as the Rural Development College at Kwaso all in the Ashanti Region.

MINISTRY’S MANDATE

Addressing senior management staff at the various institutions, Hon. Botwe outlined that the Ministry is mandated by the 1992 Constitution to pursue policies and programmes that bring development to the people at the local level.

He said the Local Government Ministry mandated to enhance the capacity of local government authorities to plan, initiate, coordinate, manage and execute policies in respect of all matters affecting the people within their areas.

Thus, the President’s emphasis on the name decentralisation added to the Ministry to enable it pursue policies and programmes that satisfy the aspirations of the people.

He said planning is one of the key functions in development, thus the need for proper coordination and monitoring between the Ministry and the Regional Coordinating Councils to ensure the proper use of state resources for accelerated development in the communities.

He, therefore, urged the staff to pursue policies, programmes, and interventions that will bring development to their people.

DISTRICT ASSEMBLIES

Every District Assembly, according to the Honourable Minister, takes directives from their RCCs as stipulated in the Local Governance Act, (Act 936) which states that the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) shall be responsible for the coordination and direction of the administrative machinery in the region. This, he said gives the RCC oversite responsibility of District Assemblies.

He also emphasisied the need for Chief Executives of Metropolitan, Municipal, and Districts Assemblies to undergo periodic training to enhance their output.

OHLGS

The Head of the Office of the Local Government Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur who was part of the Minister’s entourage, advised Assembly staff not to refuse postings where their expertise is needed.

He urged them to go about their work professionally and support their Coordinating Directors and Chief Executives to succeed for the benefit of their communities.

REGIONAL MINISTER

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei-Mensah on his part said the non-performance of regional staff means a weak local government system which weakens the country’s development, he, therefore, urged assembly staff to work hard.

CHIEF EXECUTIVES

The Mayor of the KMA and the Chief Executives of Oforikrom and Ejisu Municipal Assemblies outlines some achievements chalked by their Assemblies. They all pledged to work hard for better development.

THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT COLLEGE

Hon Daniel Botwe and his team visited the Rural Development College (RDC) in Kwaso. The College is the only Community Development school left under the Ministry after their migration to the Technical, Vocational, and Education Training (TVET).

The Minister said his Ministry is putting measures in place to upgrade the college to a befitting status. He revealed that there will be a meeting with the Bureau of Integrated Rural Development (BIRD) to ascertain how the two institutions can collaborate.

Hon. Botwe assured the staff and students of the college that the Institute of Local Government Studies  (ILGS) is working closely with the Ministry and very soon students after completion can pursue a degree at the Institute. He also pledged the Ministry’s determination to enhance the school with some needed logistics.

DELEGATION

The Minister was accompanied by his two Deputies, Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah and Hon. Augustine Collins Ntim; the Chief Directors of the MLGDRD, Ms. Marian Kpakpah; ARCC…… and the OHLGS, Mrs. Cecilia Dapaah, Heads of Departments under the Ministry, and Directors from the Ministry.

Senior Management and Project Leads at the Ministry of Local Government, Decnetralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), has met for a four-day retreat in Accra, 10^th January 2023 to take stock of work done and issues that would be rolled over into 2023 and leverage on the Ministry’s programmes and activities for the annual year.

Opening the programme, the Chief Director of the Ministry, Ms. Marian W. A. Kpakpah in her welcome address said the retreat was to ensure good teamwork across directorates and support for each other to work efficiently and effectively.

She was hopeful that the retreat would become an annual affair.

Discussions from the retreat are expected to come up with teams that would be responsible for the Ministry’s activities for the year.

Ms. Kpakpah used the occasion to formally welcome the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) and announced that “last year, LUSPA was aligned with the Ministry and “I look forward to having a fruitful working collaboration” she emphasised.

A Deputy Minister of the Ministry, Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah described the retreat as a priority intervention for the year.

This he said entails what has been done, what should be done, and costing of programmes to help achieve all policy directions, considerations, and interventions.

The Hon.  Minister for MLGDRD, Mr. Daniel Botwe in his brief remarks stressed on the need for directorates and for that matter staff of the Ministry to work collaboratively to ensure efficient and sustainable implementation of all activities and programmes that allow for the realisation of the mandate of the Ministry.

This he said will push the country forward in its quest to achieve sustainable development and the realization of the aspirations of the people down to the local levels.

Source:             Public Relations Unit (MLGDRD)

A total number of 542 staff of the Births and Deaths Registry (BDR) at the Metropolitan, ­­Municipal, and District Assemblies, have been officially ceded off from the Civil Service to the Local Government Service (LGS).

The move is to deepen the decentralisation of the operations of the Registry in order to bring services to the doorstep of every Ghanaian as well as ensure the registration of birth and death in an efficient and effective manner.

Speaking at the official ceding-off ceremony in Accra, a Deputy Minister for the Ministry Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah said the government would ensure that the living conditions of the citizenry are improved by formulating appropriate policies and implementations at the local level through the work of the registry by the statistics they churn out.

He stated that the ceding-off was in accordance with the New Births and Deaths Act, 2020 (Act 1027), which will see to the nationwide promotion of registration and to improve the collection and collation of statistics in the country.

Hon. Amoah encouraged staff to work hard to realise the vision of the government and strengthen inter-sectoral collaboration to ensure the smooth implementation of regulations and programmes to satisfy the aspirations of the people.

The Head of Civil Service, Nana Kwasi Agyekum Dwamena indicated that the exercise was to deepen the democratic dispensation and bring services closer to the people while responding quickly to the citizenry down to the local level.

He assured the Office of the Head of Civil Service of his continued support to the Local Government Service to successfully go through the transition.

Dr. Nana Ato Arthur, Head of the Local Government Service, stressed the importance of taking the newly transferred staff through an orientation to enable them to understand and appreciate the local governance and decentralisation system.

The Registrar of Births and Deaths, Madam Henrietta Lamptey, , was optimistic that the transfer presented another opportunity to further decentralise the services of the Registry to deliver timely on its mandate.

SOURCE:             PUBLIC RELATIONS UNIT (MLGDRD)