NALAG President wants deepened democratic governance

Alhaji Mohammed Doku, the President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) has prescribed the deepening of local governance and decentralization as the effective measures of development.

He said the deepening of local governance could be achieved through partnerships and peer review with other countries to enhance improved service deliveries in various local authorities.

Alhaji Doku said this when he briefed the media on the partnership between the NALAG, the Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) and The Gambia Association of Local Government Authorities (GALGA) in the past few years.

The three Associations in the last four years received funding from the European Union to carry out the 'Strengthening Transformational partnerships and Networks for enhancing Governance projects (STRAP)’.

Apart from sharing ideas and experiences, the STRAP project is to improve democratic governance by conducting peer reviews.

The thematic areas of the STRAP project include; Quality service delivery, transparency and accountability, participatory governance and Gender and Equity among others.

Alhaji Doku said the main objective of the project was to support and promote transnational exchange of lessons and good practices among local government associations and local authorities to enhance Municipal service delivery.

He mentioned the implementation of peer review among the three countries as the final stage of the project.

He said on a pilot basis, the STRAP project was implemented in Suhum and Adentan Municipalities and in Gomoa West, Atebubu-Amanten and Nadowli-Kaleo districts.

Madam Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, the NALAG General Secretary, commended the participants for exhibiting the skills and experiences that would go a long way to help them to improve on local governance.

She gave the assurance that NALAG would continue to work in partnership with similar associations and organizations to bring some of the best practices in local governance to Ghana.

Mr Councillor Modzeoke, the President of UCAZ said they had gathered adequate experiences in the partnership with NALAG and GALGA and promised to step up the collaborations in the coming years.