The General Secretary of the Local Government Workers’ Union (LGWU), Joe Boahen, has entreated employees of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and other decentralised public service agencies to acquaint themselves with the Local Government Service Act 2003, Act 656.
According to him, thorough knowledge of the provisions of Act 656 will enable the staff of MMDAs appreciate their rights and responsibilities in leading government’s efforts at deepening grass roots governance through effective and efficient decentralisation programmes.
The LGWU General Secretary said this at a sensitisation forum in Tema. It was attended by more than 120 staff of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly.
The seminar formed part of a nationwide sensitisation programme by the national leadership of LGWU, in collaboration with the union’s Regional Industrial Relations Officers, to get employees of the MMDAs informed about the provisions of Act 656 of 2003, their conditions of service and the 2nd Tier pension fund management.
Mr Boahen asserted that the union was instrumental in proposing the creation of the Local Government Service, adding that it is therefore privileged to be represented on the Governing Council of the Service.
He however said that because of inadequate knowledge of Act 656, an erroneous impression has been created that there is another worker organisation instead of the LGWU that has the mandate to champion conditions of service of employees of MMDAs.
Mr Boahen emphasised that LGWU’s representation on the Governing Council of the Local Government Service (LGS) has placed the union in a unique position to take every practical step to secure better conditions of service for staff of MMDAs and other workers of related decentralised agencies listed in Act 656.
LGWU Deputy General Secretary Godfred Nyarko Okyere advised staff of MMDAs not to wait till there are problems at their workplaces before they try to acquaint themselves with the relevant laws like Act 656 and other industrial relations legislative instruments to seek redress.
Mr Okyere encouraged Ghanaians to see the MMDAs as the bedrock of accelerated national progress.
The Greater Accra Regional Industrial Relations Officer of LGWU, Madam Monica Annan, said effective decentralisation requires committed and results-oriented personnel who will initiate innovative ideas to advance grass roots governance to sustain the overall national development agenda of improved standards of living for all citizens.
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