Non-performing RCCs, assemblies to be sanctioned

The Office of the Head of Local Government Services (OHLGS) is coming up with modalities to sanction Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) which fail to meet the requirements in this year’s Performance Contract (PC).

The service said the sanctions would be in accordance with the local government service Human Resource Operational Manual and conditions of service.

The Director of Management Technical Service at the OHLGS, Lillian Baeka, said this during a review workshop on the proposed indicators of the PC in Accra last Thursday.

“We are coming up with modalities to sanction MMDAs and RCCs whose performances are unsatisfactory and in this year’s assessment, the sanctions will be applied,” she said.

The purpose of the meeting was to sensitise all regional ministers and their various coordinating directors to this year’s PC and also solicit their inputs to fine-tune the indicators to finalise the contract.

After the review, the participants gave their nod to the contract by appending their signatures.

The PC

The Local Governance Act, 2016 (ACT 936) mandates the Local Government Service (LGS) to secure effective administration and management of the decentralised local government system in the country.

In line with that, the OHLGS developed a comprehensive Performance Management System (PMS) that is based on agreed upon service delivery standards.

The PC is a key mechanism in the implementation of the PMS which enables employees and the service to be committed to the achievement of the set objectives and targets in the service delivery within a given timeframe.

Performance

Minister of State-designate at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Osei Bonsu (OB) Amoah , urged the MMDAs and the RCCs to put up impressive performances for this year’s event.

“The Volta Region has been doing very well, it won in 2021 and also performed very well last year and it is my hope the other regions will keep up,” he said.

For those who don’t deliver, he stressed that their promotion would become a problem and would not be marked as required under the law, indicating that that could go against them as far as evaluation was concerned.

“It is my prayer that all of you will meet all the requirements to prove that you are committed to the goals and objectives of the Ministry of Local Government and the LGS.

Sometimes, when the RCCs are performing, the assemblies don’t perform so well and I want to task the RCCs to ensure that the assemblies live up to expectations,” Mr Amoah said.

Improving performance

The Chief Director at the OHLGS, Felicia Dapaah, expressed the hope that this year’s contract would trigger a more objective dialogue about the development of the regions in prioritised areas of administration, human resource management, financial management, reporting and services.

In marking eight years since the implementation of the local government performance system, she said the OHLGS was continuously improving the performance of MMDAs by having in place a predictable, effective and efficient system for the monitoring and evaluation on the performance of its various organisations.