Accra, July 2, GNA – The Head of the Local Government Service, Dr Nana Ato Arthur has received a six-member delegation from the Zimbabwean Local Government Board and the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works at his office in Accra.
The delegation led by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, Mr Z. R. Churu was in Ghana for a benchmarking visit.
The visit which was facilitated by the Embassy of Zimbabwe and co-ordinated by the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS) was to among others facilitate experience sharing from the Ghanaian counterparts, establish strategic and technical partnerships to foster continuous peer-learning and documentation of best practices and lessons for replication in Zimbabwe.
The delegation visited the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Adentan Municipal Assembly to familiarise themselves with their working structures.
In his welcome address, the Head of Service, Dr Nana Ato Arthur expressed appreciation to the team for the decision to make Ghana their choice for benchmarking.
He noted that the visit would deepen the south-south cooperation between developing countries to collaborate, share knowledge, skills, and successful initiatives.
Dr Ato Arthur said though Ghana continued to make strides in the area of local governance and decentralisation, more needed to be done to attain the desired goal, adding, that the local government Sector was currently undergoing some major reforms geared toward ensuring improved service delivery to the citizenry.
He noted that the LGS was committed to the cause of ensuring effective local governance and development in the country, as such, the Service had deployed time-tested systems, procedures and processes as well as built capacities of staff in support of improved local level service delivery.
Ing. Dr Ato Arthur was however hopeful that the two countries would mutually benefit from the engagements.
The Chief Director at the OHLGS, Mr James Oppong -Mensah in a presentation took the delegation through the Local Government Structure and touched on the historical antecedents that led to the establishment of the Service.
He highlighted the functions of the various levels of the Service (OHLGS, RCCs & MMDAs) and the reporting relationships and channels of communication and noted that the Service had introduced a performance management system to ensure effective service delivery at the local level as well as the periodic capacity building of staff for quality service delivery.
Mr Churu, the leader of the delegation lauded the cordial relationship that the two countries enjoyed over the past years and was optimistic that their visit would help strengthen local governance administration in both countries.
He expressed interest in the Performance Contract System Ghana was practising, adding that, Zimbabwe will emulate the Ghanaian example.
He reiterated his country’s readiness to share and learn experiences and best practices from Ghana.
GNA