The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD), Joseph Yieleh Chireh, has identified the lack of political will and human resources as the main challenges facing the decentralization of governance in the country.
He said in spite of the numerous advantages of decentralization, central government was unwilling to cede some of its powers to the district assemblies, which were mandated by the Local Government Act (Act 462, 1993) to spearhead the process.He said even countries that came to learn from the Ghanaian experience were now performing better and wondered what could have gone wrong.
Speaking at the inauguration of the 15-member Local Government Service Council (LGSC) in Accra yesterday, Mr Chireh challenged the council to find innovative ways to make the process work and bring governance to the doorsteps of the people.The Minister admitted that to turn the service into an efficient one capable of providing the people with equitable development could be a daunting task.
He reminded them of their functions which, among other things, were to develop and coordinate the training implantation plans of district assemblies and regional coordinating councils, set performance standards within which the assemblies shall discharge their duties and to recommend a scheme of service prescribing the terms and the conditions of service as well as the remuneration of employees of the service.
Though, he said, the former council had done most of the work, �there is still a lot of unfinished business which the new council ought to complete.�
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