Agric directors told not staff of MoFA

District Directors of Agriculture are not staff members of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and  must hence stop the practice of reporting directly  to the Ministry, Dr Callistus Mahama, Head of the Local Government Service has said.

Dr Mahama said the coming into force of the Local Government (Departments of District Assemblies (Commencement) Instrument, 2009 (Legislative Instrument 1961), had changed the  governance structure of all government departments at the district level making them (departments) units of the assemblies.

He explained that there was no position as the District Director of MoFA as was the case but rather District Director of the Department of Agriculture, whiles the Regional Director of MoFA is also now Regional Director of Agriculture.

Dr Mahama said this on Monday at the opening of a three-day workshop in Tamale by the Local Government Service for heads of agriculture drawn from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.

The workshop, which is the first of similar workshops to be held for directors of the Department of Agriculture across the country, is to sensitize as well as build the capacity of the participants on the requirements of the L.I. 1961 to enable them to perform their duties effectively.

Dr Mahama said the L.I. had made the departments units under the district assemblies that would report directly to District Chief Executives through the District Coordinating Directors.

He said that the new arrangement has empowered district assemblies to have direct supervisory role over the departments.

He said this arrangement had reduced ministries to making policies, whiles the departments would be implementing such policies for the development of the country.

Dr Mahama said the department of agriculture was most critical in the country’s development agenda and called on the staff to quickly integrate their operations into the wider scheme of affairs of the districts to ensure effective coordination and implementation of projects.

Dr Esther Ofei Aboagye, Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies, who spoke on the topic: “Local Level Leadership – Concept, Principles and Practice” called on the directors to consider themselves as agents of change and work to ensure social accountability at the district level.

Source: GNA