By Comfort Sena Fetrie-Akagbor
Tamale, Aug 04, GNA – Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister has entreated stakeholders to play crucial roles in ensuring a successful district level elections this year.
He said one of the crucial issues that affected the core of the country’s democratic values was the low level of citizens’ participation in the district level elections.
Alhaji Saibu made the call in a speech read on his behalf during the zonal dialogue forum on the 2023 DLE and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) Fiscal Sustainability for effective local governance in Tamale.
It was organised by the Local Governance Network (LOGNet) in collaboration with Public Financial Management Network (PFM-Network) and the Chamber of Local Govemance (CHaloG) in the three zones across the country with support from GIZ.
It was to educate, sensitise and raise awareness among stakeholders, citizens, non-state actors, and state actors on the 2023 DLE, their expected roles to ensure a successful election and the modalities to strengthen the fiscal power of MMDAs for an effective and efficient local governance system.
Alhaji Saibu said, “It is disheartening to witness the dwindling number of individuals exercising their voting rights at this level of governance.”
He urged stakeholders to partner with community leaders to conduct outreach programmes to educate citizens on the importance of voting, and the impact it had on the community.
He said the country faced numerous challenges such as limited revenue sources, weak financial management systems and inadequate oversight mechanisms to achieve fiscal sustainability at the local level.
He called on MMDAs to diversify revenue sources beyond the traditional channels such as Central Government transfers to achieve fiscal sustainability.
He encouraged the MMDAs to explore innovative financing mechanisms to promote the development of the local economy, urging them to encourage private sector participation as part of the strategies to achieve fiscal sustainability.
Dr Daniel Alimo, a Local Governance Analyst, said fiscal sustainability was a fundamental pillar for effective local governance.
GNA