Government appointed Assembly members to all the eleven Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper West Region have undergone a day’s orientation to enhance their knowledge on the local governance system.

In all, 105 out of a total of 118 appointees in the Region turned up for the programme, which saw participants being treated to topics such as the “Overview of the Local Governance Act (2016) Act 936”, “The District Assembly and the Committee System, “The Model Standing Orders”, “Local Resource Mobilisation, “Community Engagement in Local Governance” and “Ethics in Local Governance”.

The orientation programme for the appointed Assembly members was jointly organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) and the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Local Government (IMCC).

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sideline of the orientation programme, Mr. Richard Kambootah, Deputy Director, ILGS, Tamale campus, explained that the training was for only the government appointees because they did not benefit from the earlier training for Assembly members.

He emphasised that it was necessary for the appointees to understand the Assembly system so that they could contribute appropriately during deliberations.

Mr. Kambootah explained that through the orientation, the appointees had the opportunity to understand the new Local Governance Act (2016) Act 936, the committee system, the model standing orders, local resource mobilisation, community engagement and ethics in local governance.

Madam Fati Koray, a Deputy Director at the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), called on participants to take the training serious in order to gain in-depth understanding of the local governance system for improved performance.