Good governance should concern all

The Archbishop of Tamale Catholic Dicocese, Most Reverend Gregory Ebo Kpiebaya has stated that the promotion and preservation of good governance for national development is a responsibility of all citizens and not the sole prerogative of central government.

According to him, good governance must begin with the individual Ghanaian at the lowest level, which is the local level and follow up to the district, regional and national level saying “good governance must begin with you and me”.

He said it was important that Ghanaians as one people with one destiny recognised that each individual has a role to play in the development of the nation and not give in to the fatalistic philosophy of “What can we do? We are powerless.”

Most Rev Kpiebaya made this known at a one week trainers' workshop for Assembly Members organised by the Tamale Ecclesiastical Pastor Provincial Council in collaboration with Konrad Adeneur Stiftung on the theme, “Good Governance and Development at the Local Level” in the Northern region.

The workshop empowering the Assembly Members to initiate good governance at the local level through mobilisation activities that would encourage people's participation in their own development processes.

He said good governance and development at the local level was very relevant too the people on the Northern Regions of the country since they were currently lagging behind in development, stressing “we are not aching primarily at central government but at the grassroots”.

“Invariably, when we talk of good governance then everyone's business”, he changed and entreated all especially the people of the north too double their efforts to help improve the development of the regions, saying “you can change the system by changing things locally”.

Also, the Resident Representative of KAS, Klaus D. Loetzer noted that his organisation believed that development should emanate from the bottom to compliment the national agenda, adding that the decentralized system required men and women who understood the political process of their communities as well as the decentralisation tools, bye laws and various government legislations.

Source: The Chronicle