Local Government Service Develops Performance Management Systems

The Local Government Service (LGS) has developed and is implementing an evaluation system known as LGS Performance Management System (PMS)which consists of performance contract to improve institutional and staff capacity competition, performance and service delivery.

It is being implemented for Regional Ministers and Regional Coordinating Directors, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and their Coordinating Directors as well as the Performance Appraisal for all other staff of the LGS to perform efficiently to maximum capacity to meet targets to enhance socio-economic growth and development.

Mr Ato Arthur, the Head of the LGS disclosed in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Kwame Oppong, the Chief Director at the Brong-Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) at the regional District League Table (DLT) Pre-launch Stakeholders’ engagement meeting on Thursday in Sunyani.

The programme, organised jointly by the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF)-Ghana, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, (MLGRD), the Office of the Head of LGS and facilitated by the RCC is being held across all 10 regional capitals from October 24 to November 16, 2017 as a prelude to launching the 2017 DLT before the end of November.

The objective of the Pre-launch is to share the outcomes and lessons learnt from the three years of implementing the DLT and to enable stakeholders to familiarise themselves with its objectives, processes, initiatives and outcomes and receive a briefing on that of 2017 prior to its full launch.

It also formed part of efforts to intensifying engagements with stakeholders in all the 216 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to increase knowledge and understanding of the DLT usefulness.

It was attended by more than 90 participants that included; MDCEs, Municipal and District Coordinating Directors, Municipal and District Planning Officers, Heads of Departments and the media.

Mr Arthur said the DLT in that regard provided enough justification for the selection of indicators for the PMS by highlighting the challenges of the MMDAs through the assessment.

He said the LGS recognised the DLT as an objective assessment that had the potential to engender competition among MMDAs, stimulate district level performance and further deepen efforts at decentralisation.

As a simple ranking tool for measuring the level of development in each of Ghana’s 216 MMDAs, the DLT had no doubt since its inception and declaration of rankings in 2014, become a significant national tool for raising awareness of district development and promoting social accountability at the local level, the Head of LGS stated.

He noted that Ghanaians had become sophisticated and discerning in their expectations and quest for services from state actors like the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MMDAs and State-Owned Enterprises among others.

That therefore required state actors to obtain reliable information and data to plan and implement interventions to meet the demands of the citizenry, he observed.

Hence, when sustained, the Head of LGS hoped the DLT would positively influence and encourage dialogue between state actors and the citizenry.

He added the LGS was also optimistic that the DLT would impact positively on the frontline staff of the MMDAs by stimulating them to enquire and make comparisons on performance and service delivery among themselves.

In a welcoming address on behalf of Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, the Regional Minister, Mrs. Evelyn Ama Kumi-Richardson, the Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive expressed optimism that the DLT programme would be sustained to create a platform for the citizenry to demand accountability from the RCCs and the MMDAs to generate a healthy competition for improved service delivery.

The DLT, an initiative of CDD-Ghana and UNICEF-Ghana in collaboration with the MLGRD is a simple ranking tool for measuring the level of development in each of Ghana’s 216 MMDAs.

It ranks them in terms of their delivery across six key public service sectors – Health, Governance, Education, Security, Sanitation and Water.

It aims to strengthen social accountability in development in all the 216 MMDAs to improve responsiveness in service delivery.

The DLT also supports government to better understand and monitor development nationwide, while supporting citizens’ access to information and knowledge on their rights to development in their districts.

Source: GNA