Govt committed to implementing decentralisation process

The Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCD) has affirmed the government’s commitment to the implementation of the country’s decentralisation process and stated that a lot of successes have been chalked up in the implementation of the policy.

The committee said the establishment of the Local Government Service and transfer of the 30,000 workforce from the Civil Service to man the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) and other measures, attested to the commitment of the government to push the decentralisation process to its logical conclusion.

The IMCC is mandated to facilitate the realignment of all cross-sectoral operations in relation to the decentralisation process in the country.

The committee, chaired by President John Dramani, thus oversees and facilitates the programmes of all decentralised ministries and institutions.

Other members of the committee are: the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Mr P.V Obeng; the ministers in charge of Education, Health, Food and Agriculture, Finance, Local Government and Rural Development; Attorney-General and Minister of Justice and the Executive Secretary of the IMCC, Dr Calistus Mahama.

At a press conference to mark African Decentralisation Day which falls today, Dr  Mahama said Ghana had succeeded in putting in place the composite budget system under the ongoing fiscal decentralisation reforms.

That, he explained, was an integrated district budget, incorporating all budgets of the decentralised departments in an assembly, to avoid overlapping of financial resource allocation.

In a statement read on his behalf, Dr Mahama said the composite budget also entailed entrusting the assemblies with the authority and capacity to generate, allocate and utilise financial resources to promote the socio-economic development of the districts.

He added that the IMCC had developed a framework based on the National Decentralisation Policy Framework to guide all sector ministries and other relevant agencies in monitoring and evaluating the overall progress of the implementation of the decentralisation programme.

In addition, a study had been conducted to review existing performance management measures and indicators for local government in the country.                                   

Dr Mahama said the IMCC was also working to ensure ministerial realignment, which was crucial in the implementation of the decentralisation policy.

The ministerial realignment is an institutional measure that properly puts all the decentralised ministries and institutions in effective operational perspective in the implementation of the Ghana’s decentralisation policy.

Dr Mahama added that to achieve this, the IMCC had proposed the setting up of a working group to facilitate the development of harmonised performance management measures and indicators, among other measures.

He appealed to the media to study the country’s decentralisation process and push the government to adhere to the provisions in the policy.

The President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Affail Monney, who chaired the function, reminded journalists that they were not only to inform but also educate the public on government policies.

He announced that the IMCC, in collaboration with the GJA, has established an award scheme as part of the GJA awards night to award journalists who excel in reportage of the country’s decentralisation process.


By Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
Daily Graphic/graphic.com.gh/Ghana