Veep inaugurates Local Government Service Council

Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has inaugurated the 15-member Local Government Service Council, with a charge to the members to up their game as a crucial strategic partner to the government in its growth and development agenda.

According to him, the members had been appointed to office at a crucial time in the nation’s history when the need for the Public Service in general and the Local Government Service in particular to play defined roles had become imperative.

That strategic role and function of the Local Government Service called for a review, introspection, correction and repositioning to achieve set objectives and core functions, the Vice-President pointed out.

Membership of council

The Chairman of the council is Mr Rex Owusu Ansah. Other members are Dr Stephen N.A. Arthur, the Head of the Local Government Service; two nominees of the President, Dr Esther O. Ofei Aboagye and Rev. Mrs Sanatu Nantogma, and two nominees of civil service organisations, Ms Gladys Gillian N. Tetteh and Mr Saaka Sayuti.

The others are the nominee of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Dorothy Akosua Onny; the Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission, Mr Isaac Asiamah; Mr Isaac Nsarko Biney of the Ministry of Education; the Ministry of Health nominee, Dr John K. Awoonor-Williams, and the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund, Ms Irene Naa Torshie Addo.

The rest are the nominee of the National Association of Local Government Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), Mr Felix N. Nii Annang-La; the nominee of Local Government workers, Mr Abdul Haleem Amadu; the Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies, Dr Dadson Awunyo-Vitor, and the nominee of the National House of Chiefs, Nana Soglo Allo IV.

Provide needed expertise

The Vice-President said the council was obliged to give the President good and honest advice on administrative decentralisation and give strategic direction to the Local Government Service in the deployment and management of human resource to ensure that all MMDAs had the skills mix of staff needed to develop them.

He stressed the need to ensure that the implementation of human resource policies was fair to all and devoid of favouritism, adding that it should also ensure that the Local Government Service remained committed to its core values of professionalism, objectivity, integrity, accountability, impartiality, neutrality and customer sensitivity.

He was also hopeful that members of the council would use their rich experiences to help the state develop better and effective multi-sectoral cooperation with other services, departments and agencies for better appreciation and the smooth implementation of government priority programmes.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Mr Owusu Ansah expressed gratitude for the opportunity to render service to the country.

He said the council was prepared to work to fast-track the effective administration and management of the decentralised system, saying that had been the expectation of governments in the past four decades.