The Local Government Service Secretariat as part of its tradition undertook an introspective retreat between 25th and 28th of February. The retreat started in earnest on the 26th. In his opening remarks the Head of Service (HoS), Dr. Callistus Mahama noted that such introspective retreat was very important to us as an organisation because without taking stock of our activities for 2015 we cannot possibly project into the future (2016) with accuracy. To put it differently, HoS stressed the need to align the 2015 activities against the Secretariat’s Strategic plan with the view to identifying the gaps, what triggered gaps and to collectively map out strategies to circumvent them for the enhancement of our achievements in 2016. Again, Dr. Mahama reiterated that the above could not be realized without inter-directorate collaboration and a good feedback loop which would periodically permit the rapid assessment of all on-going activities. Such assessment is to facilitate the successful implementation of all our planned activities against 2016.
The head of Service, concluded by encouraging participants to count on their strength, overcome weakness, seize every opportunity and frontally confront all threats to ensure a fruitful year. The Chief Director, Mr Joseph Dasana on his part recounted the previous retreat at Akosombo which helped to shape the 2015 activities, hence the resounding success the year chalked. To this end, he was emphatic that self-evaluation was extremely important if any organisation like ours could achieve its Vision of becoming a “World Class Decentralisation and Client Oriented Service”.
The end of opening ceremony saw the presentation of 2015 activities by the Directors where both successes and failures equally highlighted and reasons were assigned for the failures. After each presentation, the Head of Service critiqued it and then followed by general discussions by the participants. Where necessary the presenters were given the opportunity to expatiate some of the incomprehensible issues raised for the purpose of clarity.
The second day (27th of February) was another working day where Directors took turns to present their activities for 2016, with suggested budgets. As usual each presentation was subjected to a thorough scrutiny by participants with the sole purpose of enhancing smooth implementation.
As a way of wrap up, Directors were reminded to take cognizance of the following:
To meticulously keep all the statutory reporting timelines such as quarterly and annual reports.
Additionally, Workshop and Consultant Reports and Manuals should also be kept and made available to the general public where necessary.
Action should be expedited on the setting up the following Units like Procurement, Transport and Documentation among others at the Secretariat.
The oversight role of the Secretariat behoves us to be on top of everything bordering on decentralisation.
Furthermore, Directors were charged to think outside the box or beyond the horizon in in their preparation to receive into membership personnel from other public services like Youth and Sports, Library, Education and Health services among others.
Search for a mechanism to reward staff working in deprived areas to serve as a motivation.
Finally, Directors were advised to exhibit leadership by example.
The participants left the retreat with a renewed determination to work even harder to build on the successes achieved in 2015.
However, the serious working sessions were lubricated by good hospitality (food), the serene atmosphere and the keep fit exercise which was extremely good because some participants were exposed to their health challenges. In short, the retreat was a worthwhile encounter.