Citizen participation in local government is paramount to government - Dua Agyemang

A two-day workshop has been organized in Accra to deliberate on how to involve citizens in local governance.

The workshop which was organized by four civil society organizations themed “institutionalizing social Accountability in local governance: the successes, gap and the way forward” is geared towards increasing the involvement of citizens in local government activities.

Representing the Senior Minister, Yaw Osarfo Maafo, Mr Edward Dua Agyemang, Board Chairman of Ghana Audit Service said, the government will continue to support Civil Society Organizations (CSO) because the Nana Addo led government believes in Accountability.

“We support CSO’s-led social accountability initiatives because we believe in the partnership between government and the citizenry”.

According to him, social accountability is recognized globally as a tool for fighting corruption and increasing citizen and government engagement adding that “Our commitment to the use of social accountability is evident in the social accountability program hosted by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development reiterating the fact that through that program government has empowered metro, municipals, and district Assemblies to ensure that there is value for money”.

Mr. Dua Agyemang said, the fight against corruption is paramount and that is why citizen participation in development has been enshrined in the law.

The workshop was organized by SEND Ghana, Center for Democratic Development, Penplusbyte and Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition with support from the World Bank.