He mentioned participatory governance and access to public information, accountability and inter-service collaboration and cooperation within metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the country as some of the best practices.

Dr Arthur added that district authorities played vital roles in the local governance system and democracy, leading to development at the local level.

He said the basic focus of decentralisation policy implementation in the country depended on five dimensional reforms — legal and policy, political administrative, fiscal, human resource development and institutional change.

Courtesy call

Dr Arthur was speaking during a visit to his office in Accra yesterday by some foreign students of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).

The students who are pursuing Master’s in Public Sector Management at GIMPA in Accra, are from Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. 

They discussed best practices in decentralisation and local governance systems that pertained in their respective countries.

According to Dr Arthur “the Office of the Head of Local Government Service remains the entity that provides technical and operational support to the 261 MMDAs across the country”.

The leader of the delegation, Ernest Gwehi Sharpe, lauded the gains Ghana had made in local governance and decentralisation and entreated other countries to tap into the gains.

He thanked the Head of Local Government Service for granting the delegation audience.