The Minister of Local Government, Decentralisationand Rural Development (MLGDRD) , 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 ensure the promotion of 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 that they were in charge of the departments and all government projects in their jurisdiction.
“We all think there is an unfinished business in this decentralisation thing. We have not really paid much attention to it,” he said
2023 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 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) 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 to help 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 and other projects are ongoing in the three municipalities.
Mr Botwe also paid courtesy call on the Okyenhene,OsagyefoAmoatiaOfori Panin in Kyebi and Nene Sackite II, Konor of Lower ManyaKrobo.
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.”
“Decentralisation occurs when the people in the assemblies take their own decisions, prioritise their needs and take annual action plans to ensure their needs are met,” he said.
Speaking on the GSCSP projects, he was glad about progress made and called the assemblies to own the projects and ensure that they yielded the needed results.
For his part, the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin noted that the centrality of governance was outdated and called on the government to ensure that decentralisation was embraced to ensure accountability, transparency, ownership and development.
“It is when the people own their projects that we can ensure development of this country,” he said and called on the government to emulate other developed countries who have embrace decentralisation.
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, KOFORIDU
