Decentralization should not only revolve around political institutions, but it should also capture other facets such as human service delivery, planning, financial management and citizen's participation in governance.
Nana Yaw Boachie-Danquah, Chairman of the Local Government Service Council, who said this, explained that successful decentralization was based on how the structures interlaced to support development and governance at the local level.
He was speaking to the media after receiving on behalf of the Council, two new Nissan Patrol vehicles, valued at 50,000 dollars, donated by DANIDA, on Monday in Accra.
Nana Boachie-Danquah expressed regret that issues of decentralization focused on planning and finance whilst staffing, discipline and productivity and the interface between public servants and administration had been left on the periphery.
He called for the strengthening of collaborative relation between departments and social development partners to remove the uncertainties surrounding the implementation of the decentralization programmes, particularly the transfer of functions.
Nana Boachie-Danquah said the Council was ready to assume full responsibility for the transfer of power from the Central Government to the grassroots through the management of the new Service.
He said the decentralisation policy would bring development to all communities if only people tasked with key functions performed their duties diligently and conscientiously, without focusing too much on the Central Government interventions.
Nana Boachie-Danquah said the members of the Council were working around the clock to help build a well-structured Local Government Service that would be capable of attracting the requisite human resources to promote the decentralization concept.
He commended DANIDA for the donation and said it would assist in promoting the District Works Department aspect of the decentralisation programme as part of capacity building initiatives.
"There is no doubt that your efforts so far show a commitment on the part of the Council to help to cultivate a well-structured and integrated Local Government Service capable of galvanizing both human and material resources for the attainment of our national development aspirations," Nana Boachie-Danquah stated.
The Local Government Service is the latest body to be added to the Public Service in view of the coming into force of Local Government Service Act 656 of 2003.
The import of Act 656 is to create a new Local Government Service that would be fully established this year.
A 15-member council was appointed by President John Agyekum Kufuor to lay a foundation for the Service by designing the initial documents for their use.
The Council has already designed documents for the strategic plan for 2005- 2008; the scheme of service; job description; organizational structure; department of assemblies and a communication strategy among other things.
Mr Torben Larsen, Counsellor at the Royal Danish Embassy, who presented the vehicles urged the LGSC to initiate steps towards the establishment of the National Programme Steering Committee to help with the early implementation of the local government service delivery and governance programme.