The Millennium Excellence Foundation (MEF) has bestowed a prestigious award upon the Mayor of Accra in recognition of her historic achievement as the first female mayor of Accra.

The award ceremony, which was instituted in collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) with support from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) under the theme "Recognizing, Transparency, Accountability, and Evidence-Based Decisions at the National District Level," was held at Accra City Hall on Friday to showcase the foundation's commitment to celebrating outstanding leadership and excellence in governance.

The Mayor of Accra, Elizabeth K.T. Sackey, who assumed office in January 2021, has been instrumental in implementing transformative policies and initiatives aimed at improving the lives of residents in the capital city.

Her visionary leadership, dedication to public service, and innovative approach to governance have garnered widespread acclaim both locally and internationally.

The Executive Board of the Millennium Excellence Foundation, in a citation presented to Mayor Sackey, highlighted her achievement as the "first female Metropolitan Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly after 123 years."

Mayor Sackey, who expressed gratitude to the Millennium Excellence Foundation for the honour bestowed upon her, emphasized the importance of collective action in achieving sustainable development goals and reaffirmed her commitment to serving the people of Accra with integrity and passion.

Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Professor George Gyan-Baffuor, pointed out that the award ceremony was important and remained critical to encouraging stakeholders to push for efficient resource allocation for development, especially in the area of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH).

He reiterated that it was the mandate of his outfit to monitor and evaluate development outcomes at the national and sub-levels as a requirement to annually assess districts for Ghana’s development.

He said the District League Table (DLT) has, since its inception, served as one of the most important assessment tools for promoting transparency, accountability, and evidence-based decision-making at the sub-national level.

“Permit me to state that the District League Table (DLT) is not a ranking of the performance of the district assemblies concerning the level of service delivery to the citizenry... It is not a verdict on the performance of the MMDCEs; rather, it tracks development at the sub-national level to identify those districts that are handicapped in terms of the wellbeing of their populations and allows effective decision-making and resource allocation," he said.

He revealed that the 2022 DLT indicated that there had been an overall improvement in the delivery of basic services such as sanitation, water, and electricity in some districts across the country.

The event, which was used to award other Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) for their contribution to the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector, was attended by dignitaries, government officials, civil society representatives, and members of the public.