Empower CHRAJ and SFO, Civic Union urged

Accra, May 30, GNA - Delegates at a conference of Civic Unions has urged Parliament to enact a law to empower the decisions of Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and Serious Fraud Office. The delegates said this would give more meaning to their various rulings and recommendations.

They also requested the government to speed up the process of enforcing the Local Government Service Law, while asking the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to come out with an institutional framework that defines clearly linkages between Local Government structures and civil society.

Mr Kenneth Botwe, Director of Civic Unions at Upper Denkyira, reading a communiqu=E9 at a press briefing at the end of a two-day conference under the Government Accountability Improves Trust (GAIT) programme, said the Ministry of Local Government should strengthen collaboration with Civil Society Organizations and Civic Unions in the management of the Poverty Reduction Programme.

The communiqu=E9 also requested that District Assemblies and other donor partners to support the Civic Unions to embark on income-generating ventures to make them financially sustainable.

The first national delegates conference of Civic Unions under GAIT has an objective of enhancing citizens' participation in democratic governance and making local government more responsive to citizens.

The GAIT programme, which has been on-going for the past three years, sought to increase the capacity of grassroots civil society organizations to assess their state of participation in governance.

It also sought to strengthen linkages and promote alliance between local level civil society organizations, national level counterparts and other stakeholders for effective advocacy on good governance. 30 May, 04