<<Print>>

Hon. Minister of Information and Chairperson, Hon. Ministers of State, Directors and Heads of Departments of my Ministry, (MLGRD), Distinguished Invited Guests, Our Friends of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is an honour for me this morning to brief you on the activities of my Ministry and take this opportunity to welcome you all, on behalf of the Ministry. Hon. Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media, 1.0 GENERAL PROFILE OF THE MINISTRY The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is a Central Management Agency category of Government Machinery whose overall mandate is oversight responsibility for the Metropolitan/ Municipal/ District Assemblies (MMDAs). 1.1 VISION It is to achieve a sustainable and equitable economic growth through citizen participation and accelerated service delivery at the local level within a decentralized environment. 1.2 MISSION The Ministry exists to ensure good governance and balanced development of Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies through the formulation of policies on Governance, Rural Development and Environmental Sanitation. The Ministry�s Headquarters is organised into the following seven (7) Directorates: (i) Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring & Evaluation (ii) Performance Management (iii) Management Services (iv) Policy (v) Environmental Health & Sanitation (vi) Finance (vii) Infernal Audit The following Institutions operate under the Ministry. These are:-  Department of Community Development  Department of Parks and Gardens  Births and Deaths Registry. The following Institutions also work closely with the Ministry within the Local Government System:- i. The Institute of Local Government Studies [ILGS] ii. The Office of the Administrator, District Assemblies Common Fund [DACF] iii. The Local Government Service We have a network of: i. 10 Regional Coordinating Councils [RCCs] ii. 170 Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies [MMDAs] iii. 31 Sub-Metropolitan District Councils, 1,306 Sub-District Councils and approximately 16,000 Unit Committees. The Key functions of the Ministry include the following: i. design and implementation of policies for installation of effective decentralized public administration system at the Regional, District and Sub-District level ii. promotion of efficiency in local administration iii. promotion of participation of civil society in administration and development through community actions; iv. facilitation of accelerated rural development; v. promotion of allocation of development resources to support local level development vi. promotion of horticulture development vii. registration of births and deaths to provide the statistical bases for development planning; viii. promotion of environmental sanitation 2.0 PROGRAMMES AND PROJECTS The following Programmes and Projects operate under the Ministry: District Development Facility (DDF) Urban Environmental Sanitation Project II (UESP II) Urban Poverty Reduction Programme (UPRP) Northern Region Poverty Reduction Programme District Wide Assistance Project (DWAP) Community � Driven Initiatives for Food Security Project (CIFS) Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) Support for Decentralisation Reforms (SfDR) Promotion of District Capitals and Towns Accra Sewerage Improvement Project (ASIP) Urban Management Land Information System (UMLIS) Afro � Asian Rural Organisation Development (AARDO) Ghana School Feeding Programme 3.0 STATE OF DECENTRALISATION Ghana�s decentralisation is given legitimacy in the 1992 Constitution as well as Act 462 and other related legal framework. As well known, our decentralisation policy is based on devolution of central administration authority to the lower levels of government. In short, the decentralisation policy seeks to divest the centre of implementation responsibilities and transfer these into the MMDAs. The functions and responsibilities under the policy are articulated under three (3) levels; 1) The Central Government Ministries and Departments are responsible for policies, standard setting and monitoring & evaluation 2) RCCs are responsible for coordination and monitoring of activities of MMDAs in their regions 3) The Implementation function is discharged by the MMDAs. Since 1988 to date, there have been increases in number of District Assemblies from 65 to 110 in 1998, 110 to 138 in 2004 and 138 to 170 in 2008. In passing it is worth mentioning that MMDAs play very important and basic functions in the Public Administration of Ghana. � The District Assemblies have both political and administrative authority and supervises other administrative authorities. � The District Assemblies exercises deliberative, legislative and executive functions � They are the planning authorities and can formulate and execute plans etc. etc. 3.1 REFORMS After many years of practising decentralisation, it became clear that certain reform initiatives should be undertaken in order to accelerate decentralisation. Among reforms undertaken, the following are worth mentioning: i) Comprehensive Decentralisation Policy Framework (CDPF) The Ministry after consultation with relevant stakeholders including Development Partners prepared and submitted a draft CDPF to Cabinet in March 2007. However, Cabinet directed that the framework should be subjected to wider stakeholder consultation and re- submitted. The final draft policy is now ready for re-submission to Cabinet. ii) Intergovernmental Fiscal Decentralisation Framework (IGFF) In order to address the issue of revenue and expenditure assignment between the national and sub-national levels, the Ministry of Local Government in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant agencies developed an intergovernmental fiscal decentralisation framework which was endorsed by cabinet in March 2008. In short, the framework seeks to clarify roles and responsibilities between the Sectors and the District Assemblies. iii) District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) In order to increase funding of projects to District Assemblies, the Government, in January 2008, increased the DACF from 5% to 7.5%. iv) District Development Facility (DDF) The DDF is a performance based grant system which has been instituted to improve performance of MMDAs. MMDAs are assessed using the Functional Organisational Assessment Tool (FOAT). The first assessment under this programme was conducted in 2007 and the results have been compiled and distributed to MMDAs. It is worth mentioning that fifty (50) MMDAs met the minimum conditions and plans are far advanced for disbursement of funds to the beneficiary assemblies. In all a total amount of US$31.9million has been earmarked for allocation under the first assessment for 2006. The first tranche of the DDF disbursement will be done at the end of July 2009. The second tranche will be disbursed at the last quarter of the year. The next assessment will be conducted in September 2009 and this will represent assessment for 2008. v) Composite Budgeting Guidelines for the preparation of the composite budget have been developed and core staff of the Assemblies have been trained in the preparation of their budgets using the MTEF format. vi) Local Government Service The Local Government Service was established as part of the overall programme of decentralization under the Local Government Service Act 2003, Act 656 to secure effective administration of local government bodies in Ghana. The governing body of the service, the Local Government Service Council and the Secretariat of the service were constituted and inaugurated in 2004. Achievements: The main achievements of the Local Government Service since its inception include the following; � Establishment and strengthening of the secretariat of the service including the establishment of the directorates of the secretariat. � Development of a strategic medium term development plan (2009 � 2011) organizational structure, scheme of service for the staff, the conditions of service, communication strategy. � Construction of 3-storey additional office block for the Local Government Service Secretariat with assistance from DANIDA. � The establishment of the Local Government Service website with the support of the French government. The website will be launched together with the commissioning of the new offices of the secretariat in July. vii) Environmental Sanitation Policy The Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate initiated the revision of the 1999 Environmental Health and Sanitation Policy in 2006 with support from the Royal Netherlands Embassy. The draft final report was submitted to cabinet in June 2008 for consideration and endorsement. The main focus areas which could be considered as the key challenges of the sanitation sub-sector include the following; - Capacity Development - Information, Education & Communication - Legislation and Regulation - Monitoring and Evaluation - Sustainable Financing and Cost Recovery The revised policy is yet to receive Cabinet approval to pave the way for its implementation. 4.0 MEASURES TO ACCELERATE DECENTRALISATION 4.1 Orientation Course for all MMDCEs (8th � 12th June, 2009) Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to inform all and sundry that all the MMDCEs were given an Orientation Course for one week. This was to give them a good beginning in their jobs, which we all consider very important in the Local Economic Development of Ghana. 4.2 Local Government and Decentralization under the NDC The NDC Government has identified three main areas to promote in order to achieve good governance at local level, and these are: (ii) Deepening Local Level Democracy; (iii) Accelerating Decentralization; and (iv) Local level Development and Empowerment. Town Hall Meetings Concept This concept is aimed at creating a platform for continuous interaction between the government and communities in the districts. The concept is to enable the MMDCEs to hold periodic meetings with people in their communities to educate them on government developmental programmes and policies, and also listen to their concerns. It is also to enable people at the grass roots to demand accountability from those at the helm of affairs in the districts. Stakeholders� conference on Decentralization: A broad national stakeholder�s conference on decentralization which will not only look at the conceptual issue, but will also review the 20 years of decentralization implementation and make proposals on the way forward will soon take place. 5.0 CONCLUSION Hon. Chair, Friends of the Media, I am here with my Hon. Deputy Minister and Directors of Agencies, Departments and Directorates to answer questions you will ask. I will therefore end here. I thank you for your attention.