Local Government Service Keenly Interested In District League Table

The Local Government Service (LGS) has re-affirmed its unwavering interest and support to the District League Table (DLT) and therefore charged all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to accord it the necessary support it deserved.

'The LGS recognizes the DLT as an objective assessment that has the potential to engender competition among MMDAs, stimulate district level performance and further deepen efforts at decentralization', says Mr. Gregory Addah, Director of Policy, Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Office of the Head of LGS.

Mr Addah who reiterated this while delivering a speech on behalf of the Head of the LGS on the occasion of the re-launch of the 2017 DLT in Wa noted that the LGS was very much delighted to be associated with the programme since its inception in 2014.

It was established by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana and UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLG&DD).

'This is not to name and shame but rather to give us the opportunity to find out where development/services are lacking and to give us the basis to seek support from all', he emphasized.

'I am indeed happy to disclose that in a bid to improve institutional and staff capacity, completion, performance and service delivery, the LGS has developed and is implementing an evaluation/assessment system known as the LGS Performance Management System (PMS) which consist of Performance Contract for Regional Ministers and Regional Coordinating Directors at the Regional level and District Chief Executives (DCEs) and District Coordinating Directors at the district level and the Performance Appraisal for all staff of the LGS', he said.

Mr Addah said the DLT therefore provided enough justification for the selection of indicators for the PMS by highlighting the challenges of the district through the assessment.

He said as a simple ranking tool for measuring the level of development in each of Ghana's 216 districts, the DLT had become a significant national tool for raising awareness of district development and promoting social accountability at the local level.

'We the partners believe that the outcome of this, together with subsequent ones, will certainly strengthen social accountability in development across the country's districts and improve responsiveness in service delivery in the region', he assured.

Mr Addah said it was worth noting that Ghanaians had become sophisticated and discerning in their expectations and quest for services from state actors such as the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), MMDAs, other services, and State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), adding that state actors on their part needed reliable information and data to plan and implement interventions to meet the demands of the citizenry.

'It is the conviction of the LGS that when sustained, the DLT will positively influence and encourage dialogue between the state actors and the citizenry', he said.

Mr Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister commended CDD Ghana and its collaborators for initiating the DLT and urged Regional Directors to monitor the work of their district level officers to ensure due diligence at the work place.

GNA
By Prosper K. Kuorsoh, GNA