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Sixty participants have assembled at Koforidua to review the draft consolidated Local Government Bill and some laws. The bill seeks to make local government laws more responsive to prevailing governance situations. Made up of members of the Local Government Select Committee, the Subsidiary Legislation Committee and the Constitutional and Legal Committee of Parliament, the participants are expected to examine the Local Government Act of 1993, the Act establishing the District Assemblies Common Fund and the Internal Audit Law among other laws. Reviews Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Head of the Local Government Service, Dr Callistus Mahama, said the review and amendment process began in 2012. "The laws we are reviewing today were enacted and have been implemented for more than 20 years, but quite a number of them have lost their relevance," he said. According to Dr Mahama, who is also the Executive Secretary to the Inter Ministerial Co-ordinating Committee (IMCC) on Decentralisation, there had been broad consultations with relevant stakeholders, including the Forum of Old Parliamentarians and Conference of Regional Ministers. He indicated that members of the National House of Chiefs would also be consulted and their inputs factored into the draft. �Once the draft is completed, it will be submitted to cabinet and then to Parliament to be passed into law,� he said. Hasten work The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Antwi-Boasiako Sekyere, urged the participants to hasten the process so that the provisions that sought to improve the finances of the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) would be implemented. He said when this was done, it would improve the financial status of the RCCs and make it possible for them to effectively monitor the performance of district assemblies. The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Julius Debrah, advised the participants to use simple words that could easily be read and understood. Decentralisation support The German Development Corporation (GIZ) has been Ghana's development partner in the Decentralisation reform programmes since their inception in 1988, and quite recently, Star Ghana, which is supporting the transparency and accountability in local governance, became the other partner. Representatives of the two organsations, Dr Hartmut Krebs, Head of Programme at GIZ and Mr Ibrahim Tanko Amidu, a Programme Manager at Star Ghana, pledged their continued support to the country's decentralisation process.