Various – January 27-31, 2019: The Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS) organized a series of orientation training for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and Co-ordinating Directors (MMDCDs) on the 2020 Performance Contract (PC) of the Local Government Service (LGS).
The country was zoned into three and the orientation training held at Ejisu for Assemblies in the middle belt; Elmina for Assemblies in the costal belt; and Tamale for Assemblies in the northern belt. The orientation was part of measures by the OHLGS to intensify engagements to increase knowledge and understanding of key stakeholders in the 260 MMDAs on the implementation of the 2020 PC. The engagement also helped to obtain feedback and inputs to inform review.
The Director of Management and Technical Services at the OHLGS, Ing. Mabel Amoako-Atta in a presentation highlighted to participants, the seven (7) broad Key Performance Areas (KPAs) and their corresponding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the 2020 assessment. She said the contract deliverables are consistent with the mandates of Assemblies as expressed in their planned activities. The broad areas of assessment include General Administration; Human Resource Management; Financial Management and Reporting; Infrastructure; Social Services; Economic Development and Environment and Sanitation. The participants also made recommendations on the areas of assessment based on experiences and lessons learnt from the 2018 PC assessment process.
The presentation also drew attention to the following as some issues observed with the 2018 PCs implementation. These included inability to maximimise the full potential of Assembly personnel which affected communication with stakeholders; poor functioning of client service units; negative IGF growth rate in some Assemblies from which new ones were curved out; poor performance in the transition from subsistence to commercial farming in urban and per-urban areas; poor record management; and irregular and inadequate statutory fund flows.
The Head of the Local Government Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur commended Assemblies with exceptional performance in the 2018 PC ranking. He said the PC is potential tool for objective assessment that can engender competition among MMDAs to stimulate district level performance to deepen local governance. He disclosed that the best three Assemblies (Asokore Mampong Municipal, Bibiani Anhwiaso Bekwai Municipal and Tema Metropolitan Assemblies) will be sponsored to attend the 2020 conference of the African Association of Administrators and Management (AAPAM) scheduled to take place in South Africa.
Dr Arthur urged the Chief Executives to work hand-in-hand with their Co-ordinating Directors to ensure achievement of the deliverables; and explore innovative ways to improve service delivery. He disclosed that the Service will organize a forum to bring together the top and bottom 20 Assemblies in the 2018 PC ranking to share best practices and lessons.