Accra-March 31, 2022: The Office of the Head of the Local Government Service has engaged officials of the German Financial Cooperation (KFW) as part of KFW’s mission on its Governance and E-Waste Project. The meeting among others discussed progress on the use of the District Assemblies Common Fund – Response Factor Grant (DACF-RFG) for project implementation as well as capacity building interventions through the use DACF-RFG resources.
The KFW team informed the meeting that they had already interacted with some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs); the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development (MLGDRD); and the Inter-Ministerial Co-ordinating Committee (IMCC) on Decentralization. According to the team, the visits enabled them to assess the usefulness of the DACF-RFG funds, its impact on service delivery at the subnational levels for the way forward for KFW’s operations. They were however, concerned about the slow pace of implementation of recommendations contained in the Auditor General’s Report on some MMDAs and officers found to have committed certain infractions.
The Head of Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur mentioned that several capacity building programmes have been carried out using DACF-RFG funds. He indicated the readiness and ever willingness of the Local Government Service (LGS) to sanction any staff who misapplies public funds. He noted however that, in the spirit of fairness, the Service would have to exhaust all avenues as part of due process to ensure that sanctioned officers are those who are culpable to have misapplied project funds. He spared no efforts to explain to the partners the processes followed by the Service and why this appears to delay in the eyes of by-standers.
Dr. Arthur revealed that though DACF-RFG funds have been used to implement a number of capacity building interventions, the quantum of resources allocated the OHLGS is woefully inadequate given the huge staff numbers of serving officers in the Service. He pointed out that one of the direct impacts to the limited resources is that the trainings are usually targeted at departmental and unit heads. He suggested whether there may be a possible window in the KFW’s programme to partner the Service directly.
Key among the concerns discussed with management during an open forum included the need to re-structure training and capacity development; and the urgency with which sanction ought to be applied to officers found to have committed audit infractions to deter others from engaging in similar actions.
source: http://www.lgs.gov.gh