By Felix Engsalige Nyaaba
The head of Social Accountability
Unit of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mrs.
Irene Messiba, has expressed concern about the lack of social accountability initiative
at the local level of governance in the country.
She said this was due to lack of effective system of information flow with regards to the operations of the Metropolitan and Municipal assemblies, especially in relation to resource availability, distribution and service delivery.
Mrs. Messiba also observed that the absence of a professional working relationship between local administrators, officials and assembly members had led to the present poor citizens’ participation in local governance.
According to her, “despite the elaborate constitutional, legal and policy interventions, not sufficient attention has been paid to the challenges of participation and representation at the local level, especially issues of responsiveness and accountability.”
She made this statement at the launching ceremony of a five-year local government capacity building support project dubbed “Stimulating Demand for Accountable Governance and Services Delivery” at the Adenta Municipal assembly in Accra.
The project, which is target at the existing 46 Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) nationwide, was a grant secured by the Ghana Government-World Bank under the Functional Organizational Assessment Tool (FOAT) District Development Facility (DDF) Non-State Actors and Local Authorities Development Actions in Ghana.
The grant, worth $175.0 million, seeks to address some of the weakness of the current Ghana’s decentralization framework, strengthen the MMAs for accountable local governance, provide an integrated package of support to build the capacity of the MMAs, improve its citizen’s engagement with MMAs and their perception of urban management and strengthen the media in the information delivery process.
She said this was due to lack of effective system of information flow with regards to the operations of the Metropolitan and Municipal assemblies, especially in relation to resource availability, distribution and service delivery.
Mrs. Messiba also observed that the absence of a professional working relationship between local administrators, officials and assembly members had led to the present poor citizens’ participation in local governance.
According to her, “despite the elaborate constitutional, legal and policy interventions, not sufficient attention has been paid to the challenges of participation and representation at the local level, especially issues of responsiveness and accountability.”
She made this statement at the launching ceremony of a five-year local government capacity building support project dubbed “Stimulating Demand for Accountable Governance and Services Delivery” at the Adenta Municipal assembly in Accra.
The project, which is target at the existing 46 Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) nationwide, was a grant secured by the Ghana Government-World Bank under the Functional Organizational Assessment Tool (FOAT) District Development Facility (DDF) Non-State Actors and Local Authorities Development Actions in Ghana.
The grant, worth $175.0 million, seeks to address some of the weakness of the current Ghana’s decentralization framework, strengthen the MMAs for accountable local governance, provide an integrated package of support to build the capacity of the MMAs, improve its citizen’s engagement with MMAs and their perception of urban management and strengthen the media in the information delivery process.
The project seeks to encourage
citizen participation in local governance through active engagement and also
strengthening the credibility of local authorities to promote local government
accountability.
In this direction, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development had commission a committee headed by Mrs. Messibah which would initiate sensitization programmes that would seek to build capacities and cultivate attitudes of local government authorities and citizens.
It is expected that the project would increase citizens’ understanding and participation in governance process in their communities.
Explaining the key component of the project, Mrs. Messiba said it was of the firm certainty that accountability of public officials and citizens’ empowerment were the bedrock of good governance and pre-requisites for effective democracy.
For this reason, the project and other similar ones was intended to contribute to governance and increase capacity for social accountability.
She also noted that for the implementation of the local government capacity support project (LGCSP), attention would be devoted to the media engagement, citizens’ engagement and SPEFA process.
In this direction, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development had commission a committee headed by Mrs. Messibah which would initiate sensitization programmes that would seek to build capacities and cultivate attitudes of local government authorities and citizens.
It is expected that the project would increase citizens’ understanding and participation in governance process in their communities.
Explaining the key component of the project, Mrs. Messiba said it was of the firm certainty that accountability of public officials and citizens’ empowerment were the bedrock of good governance and pre-requisites for effective democracy.
For this reason, the project and other similar ones was intended to contribute to governance and increase capacity for social accountability.
She also noted that for the implementation of the local government capacity support project (LGCSP), attention would be devoted to the media engagement, citizens’ engagement and SPEFA process.
She said the platform was anticipated to promote harmonization and monitoring of the performance and service delivery at Metropolitan and Municipal assemblies level by communities and civil society organizations.
In addition, Mrs. Messiba stated that with the support for civil society organization and the media as a pillar of good governance and effective decentralization policies, a capacity building training would be organize in June this year by the committee to facilitate the Media to report s effectively on social accountability.
She advocated that civil societies in the country needed to be resourced and strengthened to play their expected roles in national development.
In promoting social accountability, she said “civil society organizations and the media have a role in helping government to better understand citizen’s priorities and adopt collaboration approach towards meeting their priorities”.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE)
for Adenta Municipality, Ms Nubyl Kakraba Vanlare said the program was timely and
necessary as it would help build the capacity of the assembly staff and the
media in their work.
She commended the facilitators and
all stakeholders for bringing the program to the door stairs of assembly and
expressed the hope that it would be sustained to help in the local government
social accountability process.
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