He told the MMDCEs not to see the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda as “mere rhetoric, but a determination to wean ourselves from being dictated to by the Bretton Woods institutions”.

“Such determination calls for a business-minded public service, where our performance can be measured by any casual observer,” he stated.

Performance contract

Dr Arthur made the call in a speech read on his behalf at a consultative workshop on the orientation for and signing of Performance Management Contracts (PMCs) by MMDCEs in Tamale.

The workshop, held in Tamale, brought together MMDCEs and coordinating directors from various districts in eight regions, namely the Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo and Upper West regions.

The PMC is a systematic way of assessing and improving the performance of officials in public institutions to enhance productivity and achieve the full potential of such institutions.

Resources

Dr Arthur mentioned that with the country’s lower-middle-income status, much of the support gotten from development partners were dwindling, and urged MMDCEs to harness the resources in their respective assemblies for the economic benefits of indigenes.

“If each of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the country are developed beyond aid, then we can confidently say that Ghana as a whole is really developed beyond aid,” he added.

Touching on performance enhancement, he encouraged MMDCEs to assign the roles of each performance area to respective heads of departments and units in order to improve the well-being of the citizens.

Teamwork

The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Salifu Saeed, underscored the importance of teamwork in the various assemblies and advised them to work with heads of departments and units to increase productivity and accelerate development.

The West Gonja District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Saeed Muhazy Jibril, speaking to journalists, underlined inadequate logistics as a major challenge affecting the performance of some assemblies.

He, therefore, appealed to stakeholders to help provide the needed resources to the assemblies in order to build their capacities and improve on their performance for sustainable growth.