Capacity building for Assembly PR in Ho

A day's training session towards raising the capacity of the Public Relations and Complaints Committees (PRCC) of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies has been held in Ho.

The programme, a pilot one, under the auspices of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee (IMCC), with support from the UNDP, was aimed at making local governance more engaging.

A total of 20 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country, split in two lots of 10 each, benefited from the project.

Dr Callistus Mahama, Head of the Local Government Service told Journalists that the project should enable the PRCCs of the Assemblies reflect their true value in the system, as quality control components.

He said currently the PRCCs were largely non-functional and cosmetic, leaving the Executive Committees of the Assemblies with virtually absolute operational latitude.

Dr Mahama expressed the hope that the project would enable the Assemblies build and maintain the linkages within and without their institutions, to maintain interest of all stakeholders in local governance.

He believed the success of the pilot programme would trickle down to the non-participating MMDAs to spruce local governance in the country.

Dr Mahama said besides the capacity build-up workshops for the Coordinating Directors, Presiding Members and Complaint Committee Members among others, were logistic beef-ups for the participating Assemblies.

He disclosed a legislative support for the concept was in the offing, to make the functions of the PRCCs more specific, and also raise the stakes of Civil Society Organizations in Local Governance by co-opting their representatives into the Committees.

Under the law currently, “the Public Relations and Complaints Committee shall receive complaints made against the conduct of members and staff of the Assembly from the Public and make recommendations to the assembly; and perform any other functions that the Assembly may determine”.

Mr Francis Ganyaglo, Deputy Volta Regional Minister described the training session and the concept as “innovative and creative”.

He said having once been a Chief Executive of a local governing area, he could say authoritatively that PRCCs were dumb committees, hardly heard.

Mr Ganyaglo said the effectiveness of the Committees could curtail that high incidence of “whistleblowers” resorting to the media, especially, radio, with mostly “exaggerated stories.”