Minister laments on poor citizen participation at local levels

Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, on Tuesday called for increased citizen participation in governance at the local levels, to stimulate the demand for transparency and accountability.

He said the District Assembly concept presents an important opportunity for citizen’s participation in governance; however this interest had been growing weaker in recent times, especially among intellectuals who should form part of the 30 per cent government appointees.

The Minister said the level of apathy at the decentralisation level, especially as seen in the District Level Elections, was worrying since it reduces the potential of achieving social accountability in Central and Local Government to improve service delivery.

He was addressing participants at a launch of a project initiated by the French Embassy to call for proposals from Civil Society Organisations, Non-governmental Organisations and District Assemblies to implement projects that would ensure social accountability and improve service delivery at the local and national level.

Mr Vanderpuye said not only were representation of persons from the local communities critical, but the Assemblies must have intellectuals embodied in the 30 per cent government appointees who would provide technical dimensions to issues and debates at those levels to ensure quality service delivery.

The Minster called on the media to investigate the current composition of the District Assemblies and evaluate their performance levels over the years.

He also called for heightened publicity of the District Assemblies and Unit Committee elections to attract more participation, generate interest for accountability and ensure the selection of the right representatives.

Government, he said remains committed to seeking partnerships such as the French support at all levels to improve participation.

The French support project, which seeks to strengthen the linkages between Government, Civil Society and citizens, provides 200,000 euro funding for a three-year project to be implemented in three phases.