Key findings of a report on citizen’s perception survey on Local Government Public Financial Management and Urban Services, has been discussed in the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua on Monday.

The survey was aimed at assessing citizen’s understanding of key local government public financial processes, and their participation in decision making processes of the local government authority.

The regional platform created, was on the theme: “Promotion of greater transparency in the development process at the municipal level”. The survey also gauged citizen’s perception of key urban services including education, roads, water, health and sanitation.

It was organized by the Local Government Capacity Support Project and funded by the World Bank, in order to help gather baseline data on citizen’s engagement with urban assemblies and their perception of urban management and service.

Presenting the findings of the Capacity Support Project, Mr. Eluis Otto, an official of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), said the nation-wide representative sampling survey covered 3,678 households, selected from 172 enumeration areas in 23 selected Metro, Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) across the ten regions of the country.

“These MMAs are direct beneficiaries of Urban Development Grant (UDG) under the Local Government Capacity Support Programme”, he stated.

Mr. Otto pointed out that the target population was households and key institutions like MLGRD, the Regional Co-ordinating Councils, Civil Society Organizations, identifiable beneficiaries were also engaged in the process of the survey.

According to him: “The Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions accounted for 44 per cent and 22 per cent respectively, of the people who were interviewed” and that: “The Upper West Region accounted for only one per cent of respondent.

The official said 53 per cent of all respondents were males and 47 per cent were females.

Mr. Otto said the key findings revealed that there was widespread dissatisfaction among citizens with the way Metro and Municipal officials respond to citizen’s enquiries on services, and that there was a low knowledge among citizens of key officials of the MMAs, while a large majority of citizens were either not aware of or were not satisfied with the level of professionalism of MMA staff.

He touched on “citizens’ understanding of public financial management process” and said over 62 per cent of all respondents to the survey have ever attended a planning meeting of the assembly and in most cases had the opportunity to ask questions, saying, about 38 per cent of respondents however never participated in development planning meeting of the MMA.

He said majority of citizens of MMAs do not have the opportunity to participate in the budget process of the assembly and have very little information about the budget of the assembly, adding that: “Nearly a third of citizens in MMAs have no idea about priorities of the MMA in the budget”.

According to the Official, major source of information for citizens on the MMA budget is radio and television, which accounted for 55 per cent of major source of news, and that in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions, nearly all respondents had information on financial statements.

Narrowing the discussions to the Eastern Region, Mr. Bennet Dzogbelu, Regional Officer of Information Service Department (ISD), gave an overview of some MMA’s UDG projects being executed in the region, they included public school buildings, public health facilities, source of drinking water – pipe borne and boreholes, public toilet facilities, options for waste disposal and construction of by-pass roads.

The Birim central Municipal Asembly, a beneficiary of the Urban Development Grant (UDG) had its projects completed, but the meeting did not know whether they were in use, other municipal assemblies had their projects on-going with some at the foundation level, while the rest did not pass for the FOAT.

Mr. George Mensah Akpalu, Municipal Chief Executive for West Akim, vividly explained the social amenities under construction, to provide relieve and to help improve the people’s living conditions in his municipality.

Officials of the MLGRD introduced members of the Local Government Capacity Support Project - Media Network on Social Accountability, which is the third of the many components of the capacity support to the meeting, especially, chief executives of MMAs, and urged them to co-operate with the members, while members were also advised to endeavor to work assiduously, diligently and transparently in their work with MMAs.

In attendance were Nananom (chiefs), Municipal Chief Executives, Co-ordinating Directors, Municipal Planning Officers including other senior staffs of MMAs and stakeholders.