CCMA evolve measures to harness administration and management of Assembly

District Assemblies throughout the country have been asked to take government’s effort at deepening administrative and fiscal decentralization for effective local level development seriously, to enhance development.

Mr Emmanuel Baise, the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly Assistant Coordinating Director, who made the call, said the passage of the LI 1961 in 2009 placed a greater responsibility on the District Assemblies to ensure effective functioning of decentralized departments at the district level.

He said these at the opening of a two-day workshop on integration and re-alignment of decentralized departments in the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, on Thursday in Cape Coast.

The workshop, which was organized by the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly under the urban Back-up project, was being attended by more than 30 heads of decentralized departments and unit heads of the Metropolitan Assembly.

It sought to discuss strategies to integrate and re-align the work of the departments into the mainstream role of the assembly for effective local level development.

Mr Baise said that an assessment indicated that the Assembly did not have adequate institutional capacity and administrative skills to effectively manage and integrate the departments.

He said some of the affected departments were also not adequately informed about the new arrangements for effective harmonization and coordination at the district level, which was undermining harmonization, coordination, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in the administration and management of the assembly.

Mr Bless Kwame Darkey, Project Manager of the Urban Back–up initiative, asked district assemblies to collaborate with the various decentralized departments and units, to come out with projects and programmes that would be meaningful to the urban poor and to avoid duplication of projects.

He said that if the various departments and assemblies collaborate effectively, they would increase efficiency in gathering, evaluating, measuring, and disseminating information about the tangible impact of projects implemented by the Cape Coast Assembly.

Mr Darkey said it would also improve accountability, increase efficiency in the management of the central government and project funds for local level development and promote participatory management through dialogue between the assembly and heads of departments for effective designing and implementation of development interventions.

The participants would be taken through topics like, review of local government and district assembly system, the LI1961 - history, scope, purpose, nature and categories of departments involved, effective leadership and team building, budgeting and sources of financing for development.