ILGS urges public office holders to be accountable

Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), on Tuesday entreated public office holders to be accountable to the people in whose interest they serve.

She said the issue of good governance relates to political and institutional processes therefore the obligation of power holders is to account for their mandate.

Dr Ofei-Aboagye said this in a speech read on her behalf at the opening of a three-day capacity building workshop on social accountability at Shama in the Western Region.

It was organised by the ILGS in collaboration with the Shama District Assembly at Shama for the core staff of the Assembly.

The event is being funded by the Local Governance and Decentralisation Programme and United States Agency for International Development.

Dr Ofei-Aboagye said the tenets of good governance involve transparency, responsibility, accountability, participation and responsiveness to the needs of the people.

Public office holders must therefore ensure that these tenets are reflected in their actions.

The ILGS Director stated that public officeholders must interact with the citizenry and inform them about how resources are managed to their benefits whilst recipients of such services must be encouraged to look at results and impact of such interventions.

She indicated that the local government and decentralisation system were part of the programme to expand and sustain democracy in the country, particularly in the area of resource management.

“As leaders we are all accountable and we need to remind ourselves that our people will hold us accountable because the country’s decentralisation concept has created structures to promote democratic practices through participation and empowerment of the people for accelerated national development,” she added.

The participants include heads of department, internal auditors, works engineers, budget analysts, financial officers, revenue officers, environmental health officers, and members of the social service sub-committee.

Source: GNA