Accra – Friday March 30, 2019: The Local Government Service received 790 Physical Planning Officers of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) formerly Town and Country Planning Department from the Civil Service in an official transfer ceremony held at the Alisa Hotel in Accra. To this end, LUSPA at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly (MMDA) level was fully decentralised and integrated into the Physical Planning Department in line with the provisions of the Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) and Department of District Assemblies Commencement Instrument (LI 1961). The ceremony was performed by the Heads Civil and Local Government Services, Nana K. Agyekum Dwamena and Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur with the support of the Chief Executive Officer of LUSPA, Mr. Lawrence Dakurah.
A Commissioner at the Public Services Commission (PSC), Mr. Michael Nana Yaw Aduhene Adu-Darko who chaired the ceremony remarked that the transfer of LUSPA staff to the Local Government Service would foster cordial working relationship and strengthen performance of their core duties at the local level. He entreated the transferred staff to be professional to ensure that their services benefited the ordinary citizen. Mr Adu-Darko also called on the Service to provide the officers with an orientation for proper integration.
Dr. Arthur reiterated the object of the Local Government Service and the role of departments of MMDAs in the achievement of the socio-economic development agenda of Ghana. He added that the work of the Physical Planning Department had a strong and direct impact on development such as agricultural modernisation, revenue generation, sanitation, disaster risk reduction, transportation, climate change adaptation among others. There was therefore the need for MMDAs to tweak their development programmes with spatial dimension in line with national and regional requirements.
Nana K. Agyekum Dwamena also pledged the continuous support of the Civil Service in the change management process to deepen decentralization in Ghana. He wished the 790 LUPSA staff a fruitful career path and admonished them to give their best in their work endeavours.
Present at the ceremony were the Executive Secretary of IMCC, Ing. Salifu Mahama; the Chief Executive Officer of LUPSA; the Chief Landscape Designer of the Departments of Parks and Gardens; and the Chief Director, Directors and senior staff of the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service. Also present were some Regional and District level LUSPA staff in addition to a cross section of the media.