The municipal assembly performed creditably in areas such as improved education, health, sanitation, water management, security and governance.

In arriving at the decision, the organisers looked at the performance of each district in the provision and management of social services.

The DLT is produced annually by the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development  (CDD-Ghana), in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

Overview

Giving an overview of the report at a forum in Accra last Thursday, an executive member of CDD-Ghana, Mr Franklin Oduro, said the La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly had a score of 77.8 per cent, while the North Tongu District Assembly in the Volta Region placed 216th with 40.9 per cent.

The results, he said, meant that the top and bottom scores had both improved slightly since last year.

“With an eventual target score of 100 per cent, it is clear that the majority of districts are still far from this goal,” Mr Oduro said.

Mr Oduro said eight districts had improved on their performances. As a result, almost half of the districts in the bottom 20 last year had moved up.

For instance, he said the Karaga District in the Northern Region, which placed 216th last year, had moved up to the 207th place following improvements in education and sanitation.

Regional ranking

The result also indicated that the Central and Northern regions had improved on their last year performances in the regional ranking.

Overall, the Ashanti Region placed first, followed by the Greater Accra Region with the Brong Ahafo, Upper East and Western Regions jointly sharing the third position.

The Upper West Region was fourth, followed by the Central, Eastern, Northern and Volta regions.

Mr Oduro urged the government to ensure equitable allocation of resources to all districts since some of them lagged behind in development.

The Municipal Chief Executive of La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly, Mr Franklin Anku, said the success of the municipality was as a result of good leadership and team work.

Launch

The Chief Director in-charge of Administration at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Amin Abdul-Rahman, who launched the DLT, expressed the hope that the outcome of the findings would serve as a springboard for useful debates among citizens.

The Chief of Social Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation of UNICEF, Ms Sarah Hague, stressed the need for the government to allocate resources equitably to all districts to ensure uniformed development.