Accra, July 6, GNA - Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, on Thursday tasked the Local Government Service Council to devise concrete ways of transferring power from the Central Government to the grassroots in the establishment of the new Service.

He said the decentralisation policy would bring development to all communities if only people tasked with key functions performed their duties diligently and conscientiously, without focusing too much on the Central Government interventions.

Addressing members of the Local Government Service Council at the first yearly meeting in Accra, Mr Asamoah-Boateng charged the members to help to build a well-structured Local Government Service that would be capable of attracting the requisite human resources that would promote the decentralization concept.

"There is no doubt that your efforts so far show a commitment on the part of the Council to help to cultivate a well-structured and integrated Local Government Service capable of galvanizing both human and material resources for the attainment of our national development aspirations," he said.

The Local Government Service is the latest addition to the Public Service by the coming into force of Local Government Service Act 656 of 2003. The import of Act 656 is to create a new Local Government Service that would be fully established by year 2008.

A 15- member council was appointed by President John Agyekum Kufuor to lay a foundation for the Service by designing the initial documents for their use.

The Council has already designed documents for the strategic plan for year 2005 to 2008; the scheme of service; job description; organizational structure; department of assemblies and a communication strategy among other things.

Mr Asamoah-Boateng said he had no doubt that the documents produced so far would help to establish a vibrant Local Government Service that would stand the test of time.

"However, as part of our search for a new image for the Ministry, we will endeavour to offer the desired political and administrative support and encouragement to the Council to ensure that your performance is accelerated, " he told the members.

"We must be able to transfer the powers at the Central Government Level to the local levels as soon as possible."

He assured members of the Ministry's readiness to assist them in sourcing for funds from the decentralization secretariat and other donor partners for activities of the Local Government Service.

Mr Kwabena Appiah-Pinkrah, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, said Parliament would take note of all the clusters of laws and legislations on the decentralisation policy and put them into one comprehensive act.

Nana Yaw Boachie-Danquah, Chairman of the Council, announced that the French Government had pledge 1.5 million Euros to support the establishment of the Council.