Mrs Mary Awelana Addah, Programmes Manager, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), has admonished the citizenry to show interest in the fight against corruption at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District levels.
She noted that, “A lot of citizens at the grassroots are not participating actively in local governance because they did not see the direct impact of corruption on their lives.
“It is important that as we mobilise and discuss accountability and anti-corruption at the local level, citizens are actively engaged to demand them from duty-bearers,” she stated.
Mrs Addah said this at a stakeholders’ forum organised by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) on increasing citizens’ participation in local governance to demand accountability from duty-bearers.
The stakeholders included persons from civil society platforms and groups as well as officials from the MMDAs in the Greater Accra Region.
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She observed that there was a lot of resource mobilisation and processes to promote good governance at the local level but not pursued.
Mrs Addah said the lack of grasp on local governance procedures and processes did not give them (citizens) the urge to demand accountability from the local leadership and called for the building of citizen’s capacity to actively participate in the governance process.
She admonished citizens to own the process of local governance to enhance social accountability and anti-corruption.
Mr Alhassan Fuseini, Head of Projects, Internal Audit Agency, said accountability at the local level could be ensured if the public was well-informed and included in decision making.
He called for citizens to be engaged and included in the planning and implementation of policies and projects, saying, that would ensure value for money.
Mr Frederick Asiamah, Planning Officer, La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly, called on MMDAs to leverage on technology to facilitate their information dissemination and engagement with the public.
He said through social media, they could reach a larger audience on activities and programmes they were undertaking in area.
There was the call for the strengthening of inter-agency collaboration at the local level, especially that of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and the various Assemblies in information dissemination.
The forum sought to raise awareness of citizens on corruption reporting and existing anti-corruption reporting platforms.
