Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee holds validation workshop on decentralisation

Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi

The Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralization (IMCC), on Tuesday held a validation workshop on decentralization policy framework in Accra.

The workshop was to provide a road map for the implementation of the decentralisation policy across sectors of the economy.

Government had set up the IMCC to among other things, discuss key issues and programmes arising from the decentralization policy and its implementation, as well as to ensure coherent implementation of the arising programmes on a multi-sectoral basis to enhance local governance and decentralisation in the country.

Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, in a presentation, noted that decentralization was a process and should therefore follow proper consultation and consensus building, but not haste or speed.

According to him, policy gap in the National Decentralization Policy Framework had affected the Ministries of Agriculture (Fisheries), Education (GES), Finance (Statistical Service), and Health (Ghana Health Service.)

He attributed the gap in the policy framework to lack of consensus on which sectors to include in the decentralization, as well as the inability to clearly define the specific aspects of the functions to be decentralized.

Professor Ahwoi proposed for the need to properly decentralize Health, Education, Statistics, and Fire Services with clearly stated specific functions to be transferred to the MMDAs on a sector-by-sector basis.

He called for the amendment of Act 462 to include all the affected sectors, as well as Legislative Instrument 1961 to include the five Departments and to spell out the functions of the District Statistical Unit.

Professor Ahwoi said the Task Force for Health, Education and Agriculture should now operate under the auspices of the IMCC, calling on the Committee to set up a Task Force to work on Fire and Statistics.

He indicated the need to get the Services and the Unions on board before the policies were implemented.

Mr Angel Kabonu, General Secretary of NAGRAT stated the need to include the people who are mostly affected by the policies before implementation, adding “we want to be part of every step before the implementation process.”

Source: GNA

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