Minister launches 66th Annual New Year School

Mr Julius Debrah, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), said e-governance could help solve the many administrative challenges to facilitate decision making in local governance and revenue mobilisation.

He said it was, therefore, most appropriate to allow technology to drive the country’s decentralisation efforts to solve challenges including data storage and management and revenue mobilisation in the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs).

Mr Debrah was speaking at the launch of the 66th Annual New Year School and Conference in Accra on Wednesday being organised by the Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies of the University of Ghana.

The New Year School and Conference, which begins on January 4 to 9, 2015, is on the general theme “Improving the Performance of the Local Government System in the Era of E-Governance”.

The Minister said the MLGRD had had serious concerns regarding the continued over-dependence of the MMDAs on Central Government transfers to fund their operations.

“It is against this background that I find the theme for the 66th Annual New Year School of great relevance to local governance,” he said.

This, he said, had created challenges and issues for the establishment of systematic processes of tracking performance in local revenue collection, adding that the use of e-governance in the administration of affairs at the local level would promote work effectively.

Mr Debrah said the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) was providing leadership for the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the public sector by transforming government’s administration, information and service delivery.

“Consequently, all regional capitals have been fully linked to ICT connectivity and plans are underway to link all district capitals in the country as well," he said.

“NITA is in addition creating a Data Centre for all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to enable them to share information,” he said.

He, however, called for the urgent need of enhancing e-literacy as well as sensitising and educating the public on the importance of technology towards national development and the need for every citizen to have access to government information throughout the country.

He also called on all MMDAs to extensively be involved in the New Year School as their participation was paramount.

Professor Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi, Dean, School of Continuing and Distance Education, Legon, said after years of existence, the New Year School has had to undergo some changes with this upcoming one being the first since University of Ghana (UoG) adopted the college system in the School of Continuous and Distance Education.

He said the New Year School sought to provide a platform for sharing information on important national issues; at the end of which a communiqué would be issued to guide national policy makers.

He said as stakeholders and shareholders they believed that in enhancing the prospects of Ghana, the educational skills of the people had to be sharpened through ICT.

Dr Calistus Mahama, Head of Service, Local Government Service, and Dr Abdulai Darimani, Deputy Director, Institute of Local Government Studies, expressed their commitment to make the 66th Annual New Year School a success.

He said the theme was effective as it would help improve public administration as well as promote effective participation at the local government system.

Dr Badu Nyarko, Head of Department, Adult Education and Human Resources Studies, Legon, called for the encouragement of young entrepreneurs to be involved in the New Year School, especially when it was an avenue for capacity building, shaping the economy and making the presence of university be felt by all and sundry.

Reverend Professor Cephas N.Omenyo, Provost, College of Education, Legon, expressed the University of Ghana’s continued support in providing the platform that sought to educate Ghanaians on the issues of the country’s development.

He, however, called for sponsorship that would help make the New Year School more successful and appealed to the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to help with the requisite follow-ups that would sustain all policies going to be discussed for effective implementation.