Accra – Monday, June 6, 2022: Management of the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS) met with a research team from Dennis Law Ghana to discuss the findings of a research they have conducted; and to find plausible ways to support the Metropolitan, Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs) to enforce their bye-laws.
The lead researcher, Mr. Dennis Adjei Dwomoh mentioned that the survey was conducted in partnership with the Corporate Secretarial and Training Service (CSTS); and it examined the level of compliance of MMDAs to Section 182 (4) of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) – the requirement of enactment of valid bye-laws by MMDAs.
Mr. Dwomah revealed as per study findings that 59% (154 out of 261) of MMDAs operate without valid bye-laws; a situation which he said can partly be attributed to weak supervision by relevant stakeholder institutions including the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs). He also mentioned that as part of the research, they would build an online search engine for the upload of bye-laws to ease accessibility to address the high cost of publication.
The team recommended that the supervisory role of the RCCs be strengthened to enable them effectively monitor the MMDAs on all aspects of their operations. Another recommendation is to give MMDAs without bye-laws timelines within which they would have to meet these requirements. The team also believes that a strong collaboration between the MMDAs and the Service can also help to remedy the situation.
The Head of Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur commended the team for the initiative and noted that such an effort is critical to assist District Assemblies to improve their service delivery mandate. He however mentioned that to address the high cost of publication of bye-laws, Act 936 provided other alternatives including a review by the RCCs and display of same at public places for specified period of time.
He assured the team that the OHLGS will have a closer look at the study and its findings as well as the recommendations to address these lapses in the operations of the MMDAs going forward.
Present at the meeting were the Chief Director of OHLGS, Mr. James Oppong Mensah, and some management members.
Source: www.lgs.gov.gh