MMDAs urged to adopt good city management practices
Mr Ishmael Adams, Director of Project of Global Communities, formerly CHF International, has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), to adopt good city management practices to enhance developments.
Mr Adams made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency during a two-day city-to-city visit exchange programme in Accra, under Improving Governance and Services for Ghana’s Urban Poor with the objective of setting a learning platform to share ideas and knowledge among cities.
He said the programme being implemented by Global Communities and organised by the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) was also expected to create useful learning opportunities for peer cities in a manner that would bring in more efficiency and impact in performing their duties.
“There is no need reinventing the wheel on some of these basic activities that some cities have already succeeded at,” he said.
Mr Adams cited the cities Accra and Tamale, where some precautionary measures were taken to save cost and prolong the lifespan of future landfill sites, which was based on the learning of the Tema landfill site.
He advised the assemblies to develop activities on exchange visits so that they could meet to assess their progress while sharing knowledge among themselves.
The Project Director gave the assurance that Global Communities would continue to facilitate the activities of the assemblies until 2015 by which time the districts would have fully taken charge of the process of running their programmes sustainably at their own pace and convenience.
The two-day visit started with the two cities of Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi last year where organised exchanges were held on internal revenue generation, outdoor advertising, property tax reforms and waste management.
In all, a total of 50 key management staff comprising, coordinating directors, presiding and sub-committee members, district planning and budget officers, district engineers and town and country planning officers of the various MMDAs participated.
The group used the first day to tour the newly commissioned Tema landfill site to learn about activities taking place there. The delegation was received by the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Kempes Papa Nii Ofosuware.
The group followed with other events in Accra where discussions were held on low income housing, city development permitting and management practices and involvement of low income communities.
Source: GNA