Govt to revisit election of MMDCEs — Botwe

The Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Dan Botwe, has expressed the government’s desire to revisit the unfinished agenda towards legal reforms to facilitate the election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs).

He said the political decentralisation reform with proposed amendment of Articles 243 and 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution, which was cancelled in 2019 due to inadequate stakeholders’ understanding and consensus, would help to decentralise the structure of governance in the country so that government would be brought closer to the people when repealed.

Mr Botwe made the assertion last Saturday at the 6th Graduation ceremony of the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) at Ogbojo in Accra.

Other reforms

Mr Botwe, who also serves as Member of Parliament (MP)  for  Okere in the Eastern Region, said there were other ongoing reforms in decentralisation which included the requirements for digitalisation of property taxation, saying the success of Ghana’s decentralisation programme hinged on the capacity levels of local government functionaries and employees.

“It is the intention of the Ministry to revisit the unfinished agenda towards legal reforms to facilitate the election of MMDCEs and I have accordingly requested the Institute to create platforms for series of breakfast meetings with varied stakeholders to understand their positions on these major constitutional reforms to deepen local democracy and inclusive governance and further aggregate these positions for the consideration of the President.”

Infrastructure

On infrastructure, he said the Government of Ghana, through the district assemblies common fund (DACF) was determined to find innovative ways of addressing the ILGS infrastructure deficit so as to make it stay relevant and competitive.

He mentioned that physical infrastructure at both the Accra and Tamale campuses of the Institute were being expanded with the completion of the first phase being 160-bedroom executive hostel and 200- seater multi-purpose conference room facility at the Accra campus while 80-bedroom executive hostel, a 400-seater conference room facility and the renovation of existing facilities were ongoing at the Tamale campus. 

Commendation

He commended the leadership of the ILGS for rolling out cutting-edge graduate programmes to build the capacity of local government practitioners over the years.

Mr Botwe continued: “The transformation of the Institute is remarkable and I want to believe that government will consider your request for a Presidential Charter when submitted through the appropriate channel and time.”

Addressing the guests, Prof. Nicholas Awortwi, Director of the ILGS, touched on the successes recorded over the years including the introduction of new academic programmes, both in the master’s and bachelor’s degrees, support to policy and programme informed reforms, infrastructure overhaul and financial discipline.

Graduation

A total of 111 students graduated from the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) last Saturday at Ogbojo in Accra.

The students, made up of 83 males and 28 females, were awarded Master of Science in Local Government Financial Management, Master of Science in Local Economic Development, Master of Science Environmental Science, Policy and Management and Master of Science in Local Government Administration and Organisation.

The 6th Graduation, which also marked the 20th Anniversary of the Institute, was held on the theme: “Building back better through capacity development for effective decentralisation, local governance, digitisation and economic transformation.”