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Donor Partners Support Decentralization Programme
Accra, Jan. 18, GNA - The Director of German Financial
Cooperation, KFw Group; Dr Wolfgang Weth on Tuesday said
donor partners would continue to support Ghana's
Decentralization Programme because it was one of the
governance structures vital for further social and economic
development.
He said decentralization, Public Finance Management and
Public Sector Reform formed essential areas of policy
dialogue between the Ghana Government and the donor partners
under the Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS).
Dr Weth was speaking at a capacity building workshop at the
Institute of Local Government Studies, (ILGS) at Madina in
Accra on the theme: "Making Decentralization and Local
Governance Effective."
The workshop was organized by German Development Service (DED)
in collaboration with Philip Foundation Programme, a social
development, and local governance oriented nongovernmental
organisation (NGO).
There were more than 40 participants including District
Coordinating Directors, Planning Officers, Chiefs, media
practitioners and civil society groups.
Dr Weth called for a consensus among Development Planners as
well as a clear understanding of the Government's
development strategy which was critical to enhancing the
decentralization process.
He urged the participants to use the knowledge gained at
such training sessions to positively influence programmes
and projects in their local governance structures.
The Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies,
ILGS, Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye said since decentralization was
the level of government nearer to the citizens; it must
constantly impact on the lives of the people.
She said decentralization was essentially a practical thing,
which involved local economic development, proper waste
management, provision of public places of convenience,
markets as well as byelaws to ensure law and order.
Dr Ofei-Aboagye, who presented a paper on: "Making
Decentralization a Practical Reality" said effective
decentralization did not only influence people in the way
they ate, grew, stayed healthy or got educated, but it was a
platform that built the citizens confidence in governance
and "through this, they feel free to access the structures
to receive and demand answers to their development
problems”.
Dr Ofei-Aboagye said decentralization also provided a unique
opportunity for traditional authorities to be involved in
local governance at all levels to accelerate the development
of their communities.
Mr David Kobla Fianko, Official of ILGS, said some of the
main challenges facing decentralization were inadequate
trained human resources due to unattractive condition of
service; under resourced District Assemblies and power
balance among Members of Parliament, District Chief
Executives and the Assemblies.
Miss Annette Turmann, Coordinator of Good Governance of the
German Development Service of DED, said local government was
not easy to build and that it required commitment and
selfless dedication to find innovative solution to issues at
the grassroots, stressing that sharing of information and
dialoguing made local government a reality.
The Executive Director of Philip Foundation Programme, Mr
Boateng Mensah, noted that Civil Society Organisations (CSO)
were important partners in the development of every country.
"As such government and CSOs must see themselves as partners
in development to strengthen their relationship, but not
view each other with suspicion and mistrust since it turns
to undermine development", he said.
Mr Mensah expressed concern about the present situation
where national programmes were not implemented through the
existing structures, but rather through new structures,
saying it was not very healthy for national progress.
He mentioned the situation where the current National Youth
Employment Programme (NYEP), which was being implemented by
the Government, had not used existing establishment
institution like the National Youth Council (NYC), which had
structures from the national level down to the district
level.
Mr Mensah said the use of structures like the NYC would not
only enhance the implementing of this laudable NYEP of
Government but also reduce cost relating to setting up of
new structures.
He recommended that the implementation of the National Youth
Employment Programme should be carried out in a manner to
give it a State look in order to guarantee its continuity,
irrespective of which government was in power.
GNA
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