The President of the Northern Regional house of Chiefs, Na Bohagu Mahami Abdulai Sheriga has called for more collaboration and transparency in the allocation and appointments of persons into the assemblies to reduce conflicts.
He further suggested periodic meeting and engagement with the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDAs) to know at first hand development being executed in their localities.
Na Abdulai Sheriga made this known at an interaction with the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Oppong-Fosu as part of activities making his official visit to the region.
He hinted the country’s quest for good governance and management of sustainable development could be lost if traditional authorities are not integrated into mainstream decentralization and therefore called for capacity building opportunities for chiefs in ICT, advocacy, networking and conflict resolution to enable them contribute efficiently to development.
He commended the Institute of Local Government for initiating capacity building programmes for members of the house.
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr. Akwasi Opong-Fosu in his address observed the active involvement of civil society in local level priority-setting, planning, monitoring and evaluation was crucial in the development process hence the implementation of a countrywide decentralization review process conducted by the Ministry that engaged traditional authorities as an interest group through the National House of Chiefs.
He noted traditional authorities were important controllers of resources for development and their contributions dates back in history to their conduct in local governance and therefore called for structured engagement at the national level between chiefs and the local government sector to facilitate developments in communities.
The Minister appealed to the house to assist government by disseminating initiatives aimed at increasing citizens’ interest in the electoral areas and district level elections which has witnessed low interest from citizens over the years.
By: Mashoud Kombat/citifmonline.com/Ghana