MMDCES ATTEND WORKSHOP ON MANAGEMENT OF ASSEMBLIES (PAGE 13, JUNE 12, 2010)

METROPOLITAN, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) in the Western Region are attending a five-day workshop on the management of assemblies.
It is to ensure a common understanding of their management responsibilities, as well as enhance their skills towards effective organisational performance.
The workshop is also aimed at providing an opportunity for the chief executives to acquaint themselves with critical managerial competencies and skills to enable them to address on-the-job challenges, as well as create a platform for the discussion of the next steps for the effective management of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs).
It is being organised by the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) and sponsored by the French Embassy’s Support for Decentralisation and Local Governance Programme.
The programme, the first of its kind, is expected to be piloted in the Western Region and replicated in other regions, depending on how it will impact on the performance of the chief executives in the Western Region.
In June 2007, the French Embassy’s Support for Decentralisation and Local Governance Programme conducted a capacity building needs assessment in financial management for MMDAs in the Western Region, as well as the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC).
The results from the needs assessment served as inputs for the design and development of the training curriculum on financial management.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop at the Busua Beach Resort in the Ahanta West District in the Western Region, the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yileh Chireh, said the country was at an important period in its national growth and that it was important that the assemblies, which were the vehicles through which development was delivered to the citizenry, were effective, efficient and responsive.
He said the Western Region was particularly significant, as it played host to the nation’s oil resources and must be poised to take advantage of the backward and forward linkages that would arise and change the economy of the region.
Among other consequences, he said, jobs would be created, food would be purchased and services demanded, saying that these should have positive implications for all districts in the region and beyond.
He said, however, that there would be implications for local level management of infrastructure, security, livelihoods, resource mobilisation and governance.
Therefore, it was entirely appropriate that chief executives of the region wanted to strengthen their competencies to manage their jurisdictions effectively, Mr Chireh added.
He, therefore, commended the RCC, the ILGS, the French Embassy and the chief executives who were involved in the process for providing the model.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, in an address read on his behalf by the Regional Co-ordinating Director, Mr David Yaro, noted that for the MMDCEs to successfully discharge their duties and functions effectively and efficiently, there was the need for them to be imbued with leadership qualities of courage, drive, modesty and readiness to serve.
The Director of the ILGS, Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, said the choice of MMDCEs was about effective and efficient leadership and managerial ability.
The Project Manager of the French Embassy’s Support for Decentralisation and Local Governance Programme, Mr Jeremey Lees, explained that the programme was to help the MMDCEs to achieve the administrative part of their mandate.
He expressed the hope that the programme would meet the requirements of the various assemblies towards effective local government in the country.