Introduction
Having met Coordinating Directors of the ten (10) Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) barely one and half months after assuming office as Head of the Local Government Service, it was prudent for Dr. Nana Ato Arthur to also meet the various professionals who are key actors at the local level. This among other very important reasons necessitated the Head of Services’ decision to embark on a tour of the regions to familiarize himself and learn at first hand, information on the ground and share his vision with the staff. Key staff present at the meetings were heads and officers in the Planning, Finance, Internal Audit, Budget and Human Resource Departments as well as Departments of Works, Agriculture, Environmental Health, Social Welfare & Community Development and Urban Roads.
Dr. Arthur believes that bringing these key staff at the RCCs and 216 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) together under one umbrella at the regional level to deliberate, share ideas and adopt common approaches will help ensure the appreciation of his vision for the Service and the delivery of quality service at the local level. Accompanying the Head of Service were the Chief Director and other senior officers of the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS).
Regional Visits
The first leg of the tour was to the three Regions of the North, namely the Upper West, Northern and Upper East Regions on the 5th, 6th and 7th June, 2017 respectively. The second leg of the tour featured the Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions between 13th and 16th June, 2017. The Coastal Regions; Volta, Western and Central Regions constituted the final leg of the tour on the 19th, 21st and 22nd June, 2017 respectively.
Courtesy Calls
During the tour, Dr. Arthur paid courtesy calls on all the 10 Regional Ministers at the Regional Coordinating Councils to officially announce his presence and purpose of his visit. In each Regional Coordinating Council visited, he was met on arrival by the Regional Ministers and their Deputies as well as some DCEs and staff of RCCs. Regional Ministers had the opportunity to share achievements, concerns and challenges confronting their respective regions to the Head of Service and his team. Dr. Arthur addressed concerns raised by the Regional Ministers and urged them to support him discharge his duties effectively as the new Head of the Local Government Service.
Vision for the Service
The vision of the Head of Service as shared with key staff during the tour are anchored on six (6) thematic areas; ‘’Capacity building of staff, promoting ICT to improve revenue mobilisation in the MMDAs, Re-tooling of Development Planning Units of RCCs and MMDAs, Sharing of best practices by Assemblies through twining or sister-city partnership, Ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of RCCs and MMDAs; and improving sanitation in the Assemblies”. He called on staff to support efforts geared towards the realisation of his vision.
Emerging Issues and Open Forum
Dr. Arthur expressed gratitude to staff for their contributions that have brought the Service thus far and pointed out some practices that needed to be improved. The use of social media to propagate falsehood was topmost on the Head of Service’s list. He said, this development is wide spread and detrimental to the Service. He advised officers to use social media to promote the good image of the Service.
The Head of Service said RCCs request for promotions approval without due diligence to ensure the existence of vacancies is worrying. This, according to Dr. Arthur creates information gap that delays the approval process causing dissatisfaction among staff. He therefore entreated RCCs to be in close contact with the Human Resource Management Directorate of the OHLGS to forestall future occurrences.
The Head of Service bemoaned the numerous uncompleted and abandoned projects yet MMDAs go about initiating new ones. He charged the various MMDAs to desist from this practice adding that the government will no longer commit resources into new projects to the neglect of uncompleted projects. According to Head of Service;
“This is certainly a very bad management practice and unprofitable use of scarce resources. MMDAs cannot solve all their problems in a day and it is incumbent on us all to ensure that projects began are completed.”
Lateness to work was another issue cited by the Head of Service. With the introduction of a biometric clocking system for staff, absenteeism, lateness, loitering and closing early will soon be a thing of the past. Dr. Arthur indicated that the system which is aimed to improve punctuality and productivity will be implemented at OHLGS. Successful implementation will lead to a roll out in all RCCs and MMDAs.
On sanitation which continues to be a major challenge for MMDAs, Dr. Arthur disclosed that the LGS will collaborate with the Ministries of Water Resources and Sanitation as well as Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation to initiate a ‘’Sustainable Clean City Projects’’ in all MMDAs. To achieve this objective, Dr. Arthur hinted that sanitation will be included in the key Performance Indicators in the MMDAs Performance Contract that will be signed in February, 2018.
The meeting afforded staff the opportunity to interact, share ideas and discuss pertinent issues that needed attention. Among these were inadequate office accommodation, inadequate manpower, non-availability of vacancies for promotion of staff, postings within short time intervals and delays in upgrading & conversion.
The Head of Service, Dr. Nana Ato Arthur and his team addressed the issues raised and added that those that require further consultation and deliberation will be attended to in due course.
Presentations made during the meetings
The meetings between the Head of Service and key staff of RCCs and MMDAs featured a number of presentations including: Digital Mapping/Property Addressing and Property Tax Solutions; Human Resource Protocols and Pertinent Issues; A New Opportunity by the Chartered Institute of Administrators and Management Consultants (CIAMC) and Academic programmes available at the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS).
Conclusion
The Head of Service promised to frequently engage staff on developments within the Service and assured them of the OHLGS’ continued support to facilitate developments in the Service. Dr. Arthur’s familiarization tour of the regions is his first official visit since he assumed office as Head of the Local Government Service in April, 2017.