Ignatius Asaah Mansah, Mpohor DCE
The Mpohor District in the Western Region came first in the 2023 District Level Performance Assessment and Ranking by the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS).
The Mpohor District had overall score of 82.6 per cent while Ketu South Municipality in the Volta Region came last with 26 per cent.
A report by the ILGS presents the findings of residents’ assessment of their local government authorities in Ghana according to the quality of their governance performance.
A Local Government Index (LOGIN) was designed to provide a comprehensive and holistic assessment of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), from the perspectives of residents who interacted with officials of the institute.
It was conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) and the Office of the Head of Local Government Service (OHLGS) with financial support from the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland.
The LOGIN used residents’ score cards to rank the 261 MMDAs on seven local governance performance areas and 47 indicators.
The seven LOGIN areas were quality of administrative services, quality of leadership exhibited by the District Chief Executive (DCE), quality of representation by Assembly Members and quality of professionalism exhibited by the staff of the District Assembly.
The rest included quality of social services provision, quality of opportunities provided by the Local Government (LG) for residents to participate in their local governance and decision-making, and quality of opportunities provided by the local government for Local Economic Development.
The report indicated that nine districts scored 71 per cent and above which indicated excellent. Fifty-three districts scored between 61 to 70 per cent whereas 109 districts scored between 51 to 60 per cent.
The New Public Management (NPM) principles have compelled public sector organisations to manage government businesses differently from the way they had administered them in the past.
The principles offer directions on reforms that would make the provision of public services more responsive, effective, efficient, equitable and accountable.
Nevertheless, because there is no nationwide assessment mechanism that takes into consideration the perspectives of residents, an impression is created that the people’s views are not considered, hence the need to use the residents’ score card to rank the districts.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi