UE LECTURED ON LI 1961
UE LECTURED ON LI 1961 January 05, 2011
BY P. ATOGEWE WEDAM
ISD-BOLGATANGA MUNICIPAL
A former minister of state, Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi has delivered an extensive lecture on decentralisation and local governance to a cross section of public and civil servants and members of the general public at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region. The lecture had the topic: “One step forward, the significance of LI 1961 in MMDAs capacity building”.
Mr. Ahwoi said under section 161 [1] of the Local Government Act, 1993, Act 462, a total of 22 decentralised departments at the district level are to cease to exist in their present form. These will then be reconstituted through a series of mergers under Section 38 of the Act, into 16 departments in the Metropolitan Assemblies, 13 in the Municipal Assemblies and 11 in the District Assemblies.
However, section 164 of Act 462 held that, the minister of local government and rural development reserved the power to determine when the old departments will cease to exist and when the new departments will become operational.
According to Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, an inter-ministerial co-ordinating committee chaired by the Vice President has been set up to oversee the effective implementation of the decentralisation process. He noted that decentralisation ought to take place at different levels of governance thus there is national level decentralisation known as de-concentration, district level decentralisation known as devolution and sub-district level decentralisation also referred to as delegation.
Mr. Ahwoi who is also a Principal Lecturer at GIMPA, observed that since the birth of LI 1961 the decentralisation process coupled with some of the mergers that are to happen is faced with obstacles such as who is entitled to what facilities, recognition of the merged departments and who heads the MMDAs and political difficulties.
The Upper East regional minister, Mr. Mark Owen Woyongo in an address said the passage of the Legislative Instrument of 2009, LI 1961 is the first step of creating the legislative framework and structures for the commencement of decentralised departments to work under the ambit of the assemblies.
Mr. Woyongo expressed the hope that this time around, LI 1961 will be pursued vigorously in order to achieve the four main objectives without compromise namely: the commencement of the functioning of the decentralised departments at the district level, transfer of the assigned functions to relevant departments to perform, introduction of composite budgeting system and the transfer of staff of the departments of the Assemblies from Civil Service to the Local Government Service.
BY P. ATOGEWE WEDAM
ISD-BOLGATANGA MUNICIPAL
A former minister of state, Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi has delivered an extensive lecture on decentralisation and local governance to a cross section of public and civil servants and members of the general public at Bolgatanga in the Upper East region. The lecture had the topic: “One step forward, the significance of LI 1961 in MMDAs capacity building”.
Mr. Ahwoi said under section 161 [1] of the Local Government Act, 1993, Act 462, a total of 22 decentralised departments at the district level are to cease to exist in their present form. These will then be reconstituted through a series of mergers under Section 38 of the Act, into 16 departments in the Metropolitan Assemblies, 13 in the Municipal Assemblies and 11 in the District Assemblies.
However, section 164 of Act 462 held that, the minister of local government and rural development reserved the power to determine when the old departments will cease to exist and when the new departments will become operational.
According to Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, an inter-ministerial co-ordinating committee chaired by the Vice President has been set up to oversee the effective implementation of the decentralisation process. He noted that decentralisation ought to take place at different levels of governance thus there is national level decentralisation known as de-concentration, district level decentralisation known as devolution and sub-district level decentralisation also referred to as delegation.
Mr. Ahwoi who is also a Principal Lecturer at GIMPA, observed that since the birth of LI 1961 the decentralisation process coupled with some of the mergers that are to happen is faced with obstacles such as who is entitled to what facilities, recognition of the merged departments and who heads the MMDAs and political difficulties.
The Upper East regional minister, Mr. Mark Owen Woyongo in an address said the passage of the Legislative Instrument of 2009, LI 1961 is the first step of creating the legislative framework and structures for the commencement of decentralised departments to work under the ambit of the assemblies.
Mr. Woyongo expressed the hope that this time around, LI 1961 will be pursued vigorously in order to achieve the four main objectives without compromise namely: the commencement of the functioning of the decentralised departments at the district level, transfer of the assigned functions to relevant departments to perform, introduction of composite budgeting system and the transfer of staff of the departments of the Assemblies from Civil Service to the Local Government Service.
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