Abura Dunkwa (C/R), May 26, GNA - The Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports Mr. Ato Essuman, has directed that all Primary and Junior Secondary School projects being financed by the GETFund should be completed by August this year. Addressing the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District Assembly at Abura Dunkwa in the Central Region, Mr. Essuman, who is also a Member of the Council of State, expressed concern about shoddy work by contractors and urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to monitor them to insist on quality work.

He asked the Assemblies to refuse to process certificates for contractors for payment until they had executed their work according to specification.

Mr. Essuman said Assemblies were expected to provide infrastructure and equipment for Basic Schools under the Educational Reform programme announced by the government.

District Education Oversight Committees (DEOC), he said were expected to co-operate with the assemblies to monitor and supervise schools in their areas.

The Council of State Member pointed out that the rationale for the Decentralisation exercise was that District Assemblies could generate finance and become efficient by devolving resources and decision-making powers to local governments for the delivery of services since they have a better sense of local preferences.

He explained that decentralized units of government could become more accountable in resource allocation decisions and ensure the provision of quality services since local governments would be more sensitive to variations in local requirements and be open to feed back from users of services.

Mr. Essuman stated that District Directorate of Education within the context of decentralization would become the Education Departments of the Assemblies.

He noted that the provision of public services could be a complex exercise especially in urban areas with large populations, which required a high level of technical and managerial capacity for planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring and strategic and general management that were critical for quality service delivery. The Council of State Member urged local governments to strengthen the professional and technical skills of their employees and to improve the internal organization and management style, which had a critical bearing on the quality of service delivery.

"We need to create an organizational culture in local government that is citizen friendly and receptive to active community involvement and performance oriented," he said.

He called on the Assembly Members to reflect and take proactive initiative to ensure that they played their respective role for a successful decentralized system of governance.