Mills opens conference to mark 10 years of decentralisation

Accra, Sept. 29, GNA - Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills on Wednesday expressed concern about the rampant conflicts among decentralised institutions and said the Local Government Act was being revised to address the situation.

He said although the decentralisation policy, introduced a decade ago has recorded remarkable achievements, he is not happy about the performance of some of the institutions, especially the personnel entrusted with their efficient management.

Vice-President Mills was opening a three-day conference on "A decade of decentralisation and Local Government Reform- Retrospect and Prospects" at Madina in Accra. It is under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in collaboration with some researchers from the country's universities as well as the Department of Economic Geography, University of Mannheim, Germany.

He said apart from the accusation of improper conduct in the management of financial resources transferred to the districts, there was also the concern of the degree of transparency in the mode of selecting beneficiary communities for project assistance.

"The need to ensure balance in the distribution of resources between the district capitals and the vast majority of rural communities surrounding these capitals, has also given cause for considerable concern."

Vice-President Mills said transparency and accountability in the execution of roles and functions, which the decentralised governance has assigned to functionaries, is as important as the establishment of the new institutional structures.

Vice-President Mills urged emphasis on human resource development in order to achieve the full benefits of the decentralisation policy. In this regard, he tasked the National Institutional Renewal Programme (NIRP) and other related agencies including the Public Financial Management and Administration Reform Programme to focus on improving the human resource capacities of the district assemblies and their sub-structures.

He expressed the hope that human resource development would receive a further boost when the Local Government Service is finally established.

Prof Mills challenged the restructured central ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to redouble their efforts in providing guidelines and generating professional information, which is of operational value to local governments.

The MDAs should also monitor and co-ordinate government initiatives and policies as they apply to the system, saying lack of effective supervision was high among some creeping tendencies, which have the potential to slow down the pace of the decentralisation policy.

During the conference, the participants would look at "Financial capacities of the District Assembly, The implication of the Local Government Service, politics at local level and decentralised planning within the context of Vision 2020, among other things.

The participants include ministers, members of parliament district chief executives, assembly members as well as other key players in the decentralisation system.