Local Government Boss urges MMDAs to avoid excessive bureaucracy

Bolgatanga, June 9, GNA - Dr Nana Ato Arthur, Head of Local Government Service, has admonished Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to eschew excessive bureaucracy in the discharge of their duties to push local government service to a high pedestal.

He said so much was required of the local government service to meet the needs and aspirations of the people and therefore acts of laxity exhibited by some department heads would not be tolerated.

Dr Arthur made this admonishment in Bolgatanga while familiarizing with the activities of the service in the Region.

In interacting with the staff, he listened to their concerns and explained some current protocols of the service to them.

The Local Government Service boss called for change of attitude and utmost dedication to work by all MMDAs staff saying such attitudes delayed development projects.

He said so much effort was required to harness the benefit of the decentralization policy towards service delivery, accountability, professionalism, effectiveness, and participation among others in meeting the needs of the people.

He therefore urged the workers to be guided by the principles of the Service in addition to its code of conduct.

As part of his vision to ensure successful implementation of policy directions for the Service, Dr Arthur said the Service would not only adhere religiously to capacity building framework designed by the Local Government Service, it would develop staff to enhance their ability to meet changing trends and dynamics, and stressed that his outfit would give priority to capacity building of Local Government staff.

He further called on the staff to take advantage and pursue relevant courses and programmes to upgrade themselves for higher productivity in the Service, stating that staff should confide in their superiors before embarking on such programmes.

He outlined his vision to embark on a crusade on digital mapping systems for the MMDAs to improve on revenue mobilization and collection in the regions.

Dr Arthur said revenue base of assemblies were crucial for their development and added that it was therefore necessary to find ways to mobilize resources to help finance development projects and reduce over reliance on central government funding.

To support the MMDAs use modern technologies for revenue mobilization, Dr Arthur said, ICT for revenue mobilization would be pursued and advised that the assemblies maximize revenue mobilization through the use of ICT strategies to facilitate mapping of property and revenue sources.

He said Planning Units of MMDAs would be strengthened to compile reliable database of revenue sources.

Mr Rockson Bukari, Upper East Regional Minister, who welcomed the team to Bolgatanga appealed for fair distribution of staff to the Region and stressed that there was short supply of human resource in some of the departments.

He called for urgent and adequate staffing for the Region, especially posting of senior officers to the Regional Coordinating Council to augment the few staff there as well as replace retired and dead ones.

Dr Arthur was accompanied on the duty tour by some staff from the headquarters of the Service including Mr Oppong Mensa, Director, Human Resource Development and Mr Kwesi Biney, a Technical Assistant. GNA

By Fatima Anafu Astanga, GNA