Foundation, Local Govt Institute train assembly members

The Agyemang-Prempeh Foundation in partnership with the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) has organised a five-day workshop to build the capacity of members of the Ahafo Ano North Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region.

The five-day workshop which began last Wednesday, seeks to improve the capacity of the assembly members to effectively deliver on their mandate in their respective electoral areas and thus enhance participatory democracy and good governance at the local level.

It forms part of the Next Generation Leadership Training Programme, which the institute is pursuing to develop the capacities of players in the local government sector.

Topics

Topics being treated at the workshop include “managing a municipality as a business”, “the assembly member as a next generation leader”, “the assembly member and interface with assembly staff and citizens”, “overview of the model standing orders”, “practical operation challenges” and “managing local diversity”.

Addressing the opening ceremony at Tepa, the Founder of the foundation, Mr Eric Nana Agyemang-Prempeh, admonished the participants to take the workshop seriously.

He said the foundation, which was formed in 2017 to assist the less privileged in society, and promote development in local governance, health, education and related issues, sponsored the workshop because it was one sure way of building local governance which was critical to national development.

He mentioned the important role assembly members played in national development and said building their capacities was in the right direction.

Bedrock

Nana Agyemang-Prempeh, who is also the Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), stated that local governance was the bedrock of development for a developing nation, that was why the government took great interest in empowering the assemblies to deliver.

He said with his experience as a past assembly member, presiding member and district chief executive (DCE), he appreciated the work assembly members undertook to better the lot of the people in their electoral areas.

He gave an assurance that the foundation would continue to do all it could to support the MMDAs to function effectively.

Benefits

The Director of the ILGS, Dr Nicholas Awortwi, thanked the foundation for the initiative.

He urged the participants to take the workshop seriously to enable them to benefit from it.

Gratitude

Some of the participants commended the ILGS and the foundation for the immense support the foundation had given to them and the people of Ahafo Ano North over the period.

Present at the opening ceremony were the General Secretary of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), Mr Kokro Amankwa; the Registrar of the institute, Mr David Osei-Wusu and the Presiding Member of the assembly, Mr Thomas Forkuo.