The stakeholders forum, which was on the theme “The Role of Stakeholders in Local Governance”, was aimed at empowering the people at the grassroots to participate actively in the decision-making process at the District Assembly levels and to contribute effectively to the implementation of the decentralization process.
The forum was organized by “TEERE”, a Non-Governmental Organization and sponsored by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Senior Experten Service both from of Germany, SAVE- Ghana and STAR-Ghana was second in the series of the Regional TEERE Local Government Forum (RTLGF).
Speaking to Radio Ghana, The Chief Executive Officer of TEERE, Professor Avea Nsoh, explained that, the main components of the TEERE Local Government Forum TLGF included community sensitization, district forum, regional forum, engagement with CSOs and national forum and round table discussion at the national level.
Professor Avea said, his outfit in collaboration with the Municipal and District Assemblies MDAs, the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council, CSOs groups, the Local Government Service Secretariat LGSS and the National Association of Local Government Authorities NALAG, had been able to organize series of programmes including district and regional fora all geared towards complementing government’s effort in the implementation of the decentralization concept.
The stakeholders including Civil Society Organizations, Traditional and Religious leaders, the Ghana Health Service, Workers of trade Unions, Women Groups, the Youth, Persons with Disabilities PWDs, the Security Agencies, the Media, Technocrats among others drawn from the fifteen Municipal and District Assemblies MDAs in the Region indicated that most of the substructures of the MDAs were weak and dysfunctional.
They stated that many of the Substructures at the Assembly levels including the unit, area and town councils throughout the country were not functioning describing them as white elephants.
This they indicated was undermining the effective operationalization of the decentralization concept. Other major concerns raised by the stakeholders were the non -involvement of the citizens by some MDAs in their Medium Term Development Plan MTDP, low representation of women at the MDAs, and the award of contracts from the central government to the local levels as some of the major challenges militating against the effective implementation of the decentralization concept.
They wondered why Central Government will not allow the Assemblies to address issues of priority, after disbursing the District Assembly Common Fund but had to give directives.
Professor Avea mentioned the donation of some medical supplies to the Bongo hospitals and his intended project to support groups, particularly women in the Bongo and the Nabdam Districts to start commercial production of guinea fowl and pigs as well as the local smock cloth to help improve upon their livelihoods so as to help curb the spate of teenage pregnancy and alcoholic abuse among women in the areas.
Story by:GBC's Correspondent Emmanuel Akayeti
No comments:
Post a Comment