He said 30 years after introducing decentralisation into governance in Ghana, the nation is ripe to elect MMDCAs and Chief Executives on partisan basis.

Dr Arthur was speaking at a roundtable discussion on local governance reforms and public service institutions organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG). 

Speaking on the topic: “Three Decades of Decentralised Local Governance in Ghana: Retrospect and Prospects,” Dr Arthur said the move would also ensure the downward accountability in the MMDAs.

He said under the current dispensation, the appointed MMDA Chief Executives remained unaccountable to the constituents but to the President who appointed.

He said the election of MMDA Chief Executives would also ensure the security of tenure to enable them develop medium and long term development plan for their MMDAs, which will propel development.

He explained that it would also allay the fears of Members of Parliament (MP) that the Chief Executives would contest against them, claiming that in the current system, some MPs do not have peace of mind in Parliament because of the perception that some MMDCEs aspired to disposed of the sitting MP.

He said, “I believe that, 30 years into our decentralisation journey, we have chalked some successes but there are some unfinished businesses”.

On the performance of public service institutions, Dr Arthur said although, everybody was complaining of underperformance, the clarion call should be financial resource and building capacities at the various MMDA levels.

He said what needed to be done was to ensure continuous training of staff to empower them to deliver the kind of service the country required from public servants and  the Local Government Service was instituting a Performance Contract System based on four key performance indicators.

The indicators, he said were; local economic development, innovation and internally generated fund, innovation and sanitation, and innovation and workplace improvement.

He said the four indicators remained critical to the development of the local Assemblies and explained that the assemblies would have examine the use technology to be able to improve upon IGF. “We need more resources to be able to provide public service and you cannot only be relying on the District Assembly Common Fund”.

He said  the assemblies again ought to examine what could be done to reduce the mountain filth in some areas of the country.