Mr. Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), has said that despite the decentralization process in the country, government still remained distant to majority of the people.
“People across the country and in the districts and municipalities that are being created simply do not feel that they are part of decisions being made on their behalf,” he said.
Mr Asamoah who was addressing members of the Local Government Workers’ Union at Kwadaso in the Ashanti Region at their Ninth Quadrennial Delegate Conference, expressed regret that district chief executives go to every extent to please the appointing authorities in Accra instead of being accountable to the people.
He said that the decentralization and local government need to be rescued from the current malaise and be made to play its rightful role in the national development.
Mr. Asamoah said the theme for the Conference, “Working in partnership with local government service for improved local government service delivery”, means there cannot be any meaningful decentralization without effective local government service delivery.
He said Local governments should be insulated from partisan political interference to create opportunities directly for the local people to curtail their migration to Accra.
Mr. Asamoah explained that the creation of districts and municipalities were based on objectives which also involved subjecting the position of chief executives to direct elections by the people in their respective areas to ensure accountability at the local level.
The TUC Secretary General suggested that fiscal decentralization should be pursued as part of the overall objectives adding that, “Local Government cannot be expected to offer improved services to local people when they have very little control over the resources of their communities.
He said the Local Government Service has to be resourced and strengthened to take roles that were currently being done by governments which have become tainted with partisanship and improved condition of service for the workers.
Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, said the implementation of the Local Government Service Act 656 and Legislative Instrument (LI 1961) were bold steps taken to deepen democracy, decentralization and development in Ghana.
He said the overall objectives of these initiatives was to enhance Local Government Service delivery and placed a lot of responsibilities on all key stakeholders, especially the Local government Workers’ Union (LGWU) to galvanise support for effective implementation of reforms being introduced by the Acts.
The Regional Minister said government would continue to work hard and implement good policies to better the working conditions of workers in the country to enable them perform their duties effectively.
He said the successful implementation of the Single Spines Salary Structure (SSSS) was to ensure the wellbeing of workers and commended the LGWU for the experienced manner in which they handled issues during the initial stages of the SSSS.
The General Secretary of the LGWU, Mr. Joe Boahen, said since the LGWU was established in 1960, it has organised and represented employees of the Local Government Service in all issues affecting their welfare.
He appealed to the Controller and Accountant General Department to stop deducting Union dues from the salaries of LGWU members to the Civil Servants’ Association since they now belong to the Local Government Service.**
