Koforidua, April 15, GNA – Assembly members, employees, and auditors from six municipal and district assemblies in the Eastern Region have been schooled in the workings of Public Relations and Complaints Committees (PRCC) to enhance their participation in effective local administration.
The training was under the Ghana Strengthening Accountability Mechanism (GSAM), which aims to increase local government openness and accountability by strengthening citizens’ supervision of capital projects in 100 metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies.
The training was to improve the understanding of participants to make the PRCC more functional for enhanced engagement in social and capital project accountability.
Care International organised the training in Koforidua, in collaboration with ISODEC and other civil society organisations, with financing from USAID.
Mr Samuel Addai Boateng, GSAM Deputy Chief of Party, said over the eight years of GSAM implementation, several critical flaws had been detected that needed to be addressed to ensure the project’s overall success.
He identified low public engagement owing to a lack of awareness of district assemblies’ activities or the governance structure as one of the major concerns.
He said the MMDA’s reaction and documentation of concerns in terms of citizen grievances and complaints management were extremely poor, hence the training to enhance participants’ understanding to respond appropriately.
So far GSAM had educated over 200,000 residents on the capital projects, allowing them to monitor and review the quality of development initiatives in their areas, Mr Boateng said.
Mr Samuel Donkor, the Chief Director of the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council, a facilitator at the training, said the PRCC was one of two primary committees in the MMDAs, created to handle people’ concerns and complaints against government officials such as the chief executive and assembly members, rather than to remedy staff transgressions or administrative errors.
The Local Government Act 936 (sections 26&27) states that the PRCC is led by Presiding Members, and all other members must be chosen by the assembly rather than hand-picked, as has been the case.
Mr Donkor recommended to participants, particularly the assemblymen, to study the Local Government Act to be able to operate effectively and strengthen Ghana’s local governance system.
GNA