The delegation, led by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, Mr. Z. R. Churu, was in Ghana for a benchmarking visit.

The visit, which was facilitated by the Embassy of Zimbabwe and co-ordinated by the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS), sought to among others, facilitate experience sharing from the Ghanaian counterparts, establish strategic and technical partnerships to foster continuous peer-learning and documentation of best practices and lessons for replication in Zimbabwe.

 The delegation visited the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Adentan Municipal Assembly to familiarise themselves with their working structures.

Dr Arthur expressed appreciation to the team for the decision to make Ghana their choice for benchmarking.

He noted that the visit would deepen the south–south cooperation among developing countries to collaborate, share knowledge, skills, and successful initiatives.

Dr Arthur indicated that though Ghana continued to make strides in the area of local governance and decentralisation, more needed to be done to attain the desired goal.

He said that the local government sector was currently undergoing major reforms geared towards ensuring an improved service delivery to the citizenry.

Dr Arthur noted that the LGS was committed to ensuring effective local governance and development in the country, as such, the service had deployed time-tested systems, procedures and processes as well as build capacities of staff in support of improved local level service delivery.

The Chief Director at the OHLGS, Mr James Oppong-Mensah, educated the delegation on the Local Government Structure and the historical antecedents that led to the establishment of the Service.

 He highlighted the functions of the various levels of the service, Regional Co-ordinating Councils (RCCs) and Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

Dr Oppong-Mensah noted that the Service has introduced a performance management system to ensure effective service delivery at the local level, as well as the periodic capacity building of staff for quality service delivery.

Mr Churu, the leader of the delegation, lauded the cordial relationship that the two countries have enjoyed over the past years, and was optimistic that the visit would help strengthen local governance administration in both countries.

He expressed interest in the Performance Contract System Ghana was practicing, adding that Zimbabwe would emulate the Ghanaian example.

Mr Churu reiterated his country’s readiness to share and learn experiences and best practices from Ghana.