Ghana is to benefit from a 300,000 pounds sterling Commonwealth Local Government Good Practice (CLGGP) for the period of five years, which is intended to promote capacity building in human resources and physical engineering.

The Good Practice Scheme is designed to ensure smooth succession plan for the Local Government Ministry.

To this effect, the District Assemblies through MILGRD and NALAG would apply the transfer of effective financial management, food and preservation as well as better management and recycling of wastes.

These were made known at a Commonwealth Local Government (CLG) forum at Brisbane, Australia recently.

The forum was to discuss the CLG audited accounts of the year 2000/2001 and the operational budget for the year 2001/2002.

In a chat with the Ghanaian Chronicle on his arrival, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, disclosed that the Indian Minister for Rural Government pledged to support Ghana in food preservation such as plantain, yam and among others.

According to the Minister, the Indian Local Government Minister has agreed to help Ghana acquire the preservation technology that India is noted for.

This, the minister said, will help sustain the nation's food security programme.

"When this process becomes successful, the Rural Development Program designed for food security and guaranteed economic prices for farmers would be achieved," he pointed out.

"If this becomes a reality it will go a long way to help alleviate poverty among farmers", Baah-Wiredu underscored.

Touching on India's experience on micro-financing, he hinted that the country's Village Council selects hard working and trustworthy people for micro-finance facilities.

Elaborating, he revealed that the intended purpose of the Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP) has always been successful as the ?16 billion allocation to the 16,000 Unit Committees is likely to give a measurable impact.

Hon Baah-Wiredu presented a paper on 'Supporting Sustainable Development Through Capacity Building for Technical Cooperation and Local Government.

The paper indicated the 10 regions and 110 districts in Ghana. Baah-Wiredu learnt that some waste managements in terms of domestic wastes can be converted into electricity and others into energy.

Among the detailed discussions in Brisbane was the Korle-Bu and Mallam wastes, which emit methane gas, that can be converted into power.

Hon Baah-Wiredu as part of his visit met with the Ghanaian community, and suggested that a Ghana Investment Bond should be issued for all Ghanaians outside especially those in Australia, Canada, and France, to be tied to specific infrastructure projects.

Furthermore, the Dual Citizenship Law was discussed, as the focus was on when it would become operational and effective. Fifty Ghanaians attended the meeting.