The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MMGDRD) has participated in the just-ended Civil Service Week Celebration.

The Ministry participated in the Football match, clean-up exercise, public lectures, exhibitions and open day, and the awards ceremony.

At the exhibition, the Ministry exhibited its Acts, policies, programmes, projects, and other educational materials.

The Ministry also featured its allied Agencies and Departments to also showcase what they do.

The Departments that were present were the Births and Deaths Registry, Parks and Gardens, Community Development, and its allied Agency - Institute of Local Government Studies.

All the Departments exhibited wares, products, and Services to the general public for their patronage

Source: MLGDRD Public Relations Unit

Hon. Daniel Botwe, Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development has charged Metropolitan/ Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to live up to their statutory responsibilities within the Local Government Act 2016 (Act 936) and the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act 2016 (Act 925) to help build sustainable and resilient cities within the country.

The Minister was speaking to MMDCEs and Metropolitan/ Municipal and District Coordinating Directors, Heads of Physical and Works Departments of all twenty-nine (29) Assemblies in the Greater Accra Region at a meeting held to discuss spatial planning activities within the Region.

The meeting provided the platform to discuss the bottlenecks in the spatial planning and permitting roles and procedures within the Region with the aim of proposing workable solutions on the way forward.

According to the Minister, this has become necessary due to the perennial flooding and its related matters that hit Accra recently and other places across the country which Cabinet directed that urgent and immediate actions be taken to address the situation nationwide, starting with the Greater Accra.

This, the Minister said is as a result of the challenge of the poor state of urban land-use planning and management; posing as a major contributing factor to the perennial flooding, with reference to the rapid growth of population and increasing urbanization which has placed huge demands on local authorities with respect to the provision of housing, sanitation and other related services.

He urged MMDCEs to ensure adherence to their statutory mandate reflected in the various legislations governing spatial planning and land use to help provide adequate spatial direction for physical development within the various assemblies which forms the fulcrum for development control.

Source: MLGDRD Public Relations Unit

The Management and staff of the Births and Deaths Registry have been commended for automating their operation and services by piloting an online payment portal on Ghana.gov, and also establishing a call centre to respond to public enquiries.

They were also encouraged to work hard to create a safe and friendly environment for the registration of births and deaths in the country.

The commendation came at the launch of the Mobile Mass Registration Exercise and publicizing the need to register births and deaths events at the Registry’s new office located within the National Association of Local Government Authority (NALAG) building in Accra.

Launching the registration exercise, the Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Hon. Daniel Botwe stressed the government’s commitment to strengthen the identity management eco-system in the country by ensuring that policies, laws, regulations  and guidelines were available and implemented at all times.

He said the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), which is responsible for Births and Deaths, spearheaded the enactment of the Registration of the Births and Deaths Act 2020 (Act 1027), passed by Parliament and assented to by H. E. President Akufo-Addo in October 2020. The Act ensures that the Registry’s operations are decentralised and its functions are clearly outlined.

He noted that the revised legal frameworks mandate the Registry to develop a robust and credible registration system which ensures that every birth and death that occurs in the country is registered within a specified time.

He disclosed that birth registration is free from zero to twelve month and similarly, death registration within the first ten days after occurrence is also at no cost.

Source: MLGDRD Public Relations Unit