A 13-member Ministerial Advisory Board for the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) was inaugurated in Accra on Thursday.

The Board, chaired by Hajia Alima Mahama, the Sector Minister, is mandated, under the Civil Service Law 1993 (PNDCL 327), to advice the Minister on the effective formulation of policies for the efficient administration of the Ministry.

Members of the Board include Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah, Mr Kwesi Boateng Adjei, and Mr Collins Ntim, all Deputy Ministers of MLGRD, Mr Charles K. Dondieu, Chief Director of MLGRD, Dr Nana Ato Arthur, Head of Service, Local Government Service, and Mr Ameyaw Cheremeh, Member of Parliament for Sunyani East.

The others are Mr Felix Mensah-La, President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana, Mr Joseph Antwi, Head of Fiscal Decentralisation at the Ministry of Finance, Mr Benjamin K Gyasi, Acting Chief Director, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, and Mr George Kyei Baffour, both Local Government Experts, and Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso, Executive Director, Centre For Local Governance Advocacy.

Mr Yaw Osafo Marfo, the Senior Minister, urged the members to help bring the uniform development to all sectors of the economy.

He tasked them to help deepen decentralisation and improve its effectiveness and efficiency to ensure growth.

The Senior Minister admonished the Board to show interest in the improvement of property tax, which is regarded as the poorest administered tax collected, adding; “We can improve property tax collection in the country through the expertise of this Board.”

Hajia Mahama urged the members to help the Ministry develop a better and effective multi-sectoral cooperation with other Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the smooth implementation of Government priority programmes.

She said the vision of the Ministry was to achieve a sustainable and equitable economic growth through citizens’ participation and accelerated service delivery at the local level within a decentralised environment.

Hajia Mahama said the Ministry had realigned target areas in line with key deliverables of the Government, which includes increased participation of the citizenry in democratic governance at the local level, increased funding and financial management of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to improve their administrative and human resource capacity.

Others, she said, were improved service delivery and increased economic growth at the local government level.

She said some modest gains during the last seven months were that 210 MMDCEs were in office, new fee-fixing guidelines for MMDAs have been validated to enhance revenue mobilisation and work on the Ghana Urban Management Pilot projects in Ho, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Tamale were almost complete.

Dr Offei-Aboagye, on behalf of the members, pledged the Board’s support and commitment to the Ministry in the performance of its duties.