Govt to solve boundary disputes in the country

Accra June 28, GNA - Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Local Government and Rural Development Minister said on Tuesday that government would strive to solve the boundary dispute between Awutu Senya District Assembly and the Ga South Municipal Assembly.

He said the Ministry had engaged the Greater Accra and Central Regional Security Councils as well as the two Regional Co-ordinating Councils to create a congenial atmosphere for peaceful existence.

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo, who was speaking on the floor of parliament, said his ministry had identified a number of boundary disputes across the country and plans were well advanced to inaugurate a committee of experts to conduct a thorough investigation into these problems.

On when the Local government Service would fully be operational, Mr Ampofo said government had made many efforts to make it possible.

He said as a way of ensuring its full operations, a programme to decouple the Local Government Service from the Civil Service had been pursued, adding that the Vice President Dramani Mahama witnessed an event that witnessed the transfer of 30,000 staff of the civil Service to the Local Government Service.

The Minister said a road map for the implementation of the Legislative Instrument LI 1961, which aimed at achieving a four pronged objective such as the commencement of the functioning of the decentralised departments at the district level as departments of the district assembly and the transfer of the functions in the third schedule to the 1961 Legislative Instrument (LI) to the relevant departments.

He noted that the Local Government Service was currently conducting Human Resource Audit and infrastructure inventories to ensure that the requisite personnel and infrastructure were in place for the smooth integration of the departments into the district assembly.

He explained that a new organograme and reporting relationship in the districts have been developed and validated while schemes of services and conditions of service for the local government service had been approved by the Local Government Council and the Ministry.

The final step according to him was the amendment of the legislation on the category two departments established by status and Acts of Parliament in the second schedule to the LI 1961 to make them part of the District Assemblies which include the department of Education and District Health Departments, which was a process in progress.

"Process and procedure have been put in place by the Finance and Economic Planning Ministry to see to the implementation of the composite budget in 2012," he said.

He indicated that a fiscal decentralisation unit had been established to work with the Ministry of the Local Government Service to implement, co-ordinate and provide the necessary capacity support for the Ministries Departments and Agencies.