Accra, June 8, GNA - Mr. Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, on Monday called on District Chief Executives (DCEs), to exhibit good leadership skills in the management of their districts.

"Your actions and inactions will have either positive or negative effects on the government," he said. Mr Yieleh Chireh made the call at the orientation of newly appointed DCEs at the Institute for Local Government Studies (ILGS) in Accra. The five-day programme was jointly organised by the ILGS and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, to provide the platform for the DCEs to learn the rudiments of local administration, in order to carry out their responsibilities as agents of the decentralization process.

He asked the DCEs to be transparent and accountable in all their actions and allow stakeholders such as civil society, to participate in the governance of the people. He said they should make positive impact by leaving behind an indelible mark of achievement. "Eschew arrogance, be master servants, for in humanly you shall excel," he said.

Mr. Yieleh Chireh said the DCEs would be confronted by all manner of issues that would require attention, "but in all these you must not fail the people", he added.

The DCEs were taken through topics like: "Overview of the Local Governance System," "DCEs as Agents of Change in Participatory Local Government," and "Relationships between Members of Parliament and Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives."

They were also exposed to: "The Assembly as a Planning and Budgeting Entity," "The National Development Planning System," "The Operations of the District Assembly Common Fund," and "Resource Mobilization and Revenue Generation at the Local level." Dr. Esther Aboagye Offei, Director of the ILGS, who chaired the ceremony, asked the DCEs to create avenues for equitable accessibility of social services for the people.

They must also work hard to facilitate the decentralization process in order to alleviate poverty.