111 students graduate from Institute of Local Government Studies

A total of 111 students graduated from the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) on Saturday, July 22 at Ogbojo in Accra.

The students, made up of 83 males and 28 females, were awarded Master of Science in Local Government Financial Management, Master of Science in Local Economic Development, Master of Science Environmental Science, Policy and Management and Master of Science in Local Government Administration and Organisation.

The 6th congregation, which also marked the 20th Anniversary of the Institute, was held on the theme: “Building back better through capacity development for effective decentralisation, local governance, digitisation and economic transformation.”

Progress

Addressing the congregation, Prof. Nicholas Awortwi, Director of the ILGS touched on the successes recorded over the years including the introduction of new Academic Programmes, support to policy and programme informed reforms, infrastructure overhaul and financial discipline.

“To maintain our focus and relevance in the local government sector, in the past two years, the ILGS has vigorously supported informed policy and programme reforms in the local governance sector. It has conceptualized and tested capacity building programmes that seek to contribute towards responsive, effective and efficient service delivery, local economic transformation and decentralized democratic governance in Ghana,” Prof. Awortwi said.

Reforms

Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Dan Botwe, expressed the government’s desire to revisit the unfinished agenda towards legal reforms to facilitate the election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs).

He said the political decentralisation reform with proposed amendment of Articles 243 and 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution, which was cancelled in 2019 due to inadequate stakeholders’ understanding and consensus, would help to decentralise the structure of governance in the country so that government would be brought closer to the people when repealed.

“It is the intention of the Ministry to revisit the unfinished agenda towards legal reforms to facilitate the election of MMDCEs and I have accordingly requested the Institute to create platforms for series of breakfast meetings with varied stakeholders to understand their positions on these major constitutional reforms to deepen local democracy and inclusive governance and further aggregate these positions for the consideration of the President.”

Dignitaries and graduands in a photograph after the ceremony

Infrastructure

On infrastructure, he said the Government of Ghana, through the district assemblies common fund (DACF) was determined to find innovative ways of addressing the ILGS infrastructure deficit so as to make it stay relevant and competitive.

He mentioned that physical infrastructure at both the Accra and Tamale campuses of the Institute were being expanded with the completion of the first phase being 160-bedroom executive hostel and 200- seater multi-purpose conference room facility at the Accra campus while 80-bedroom executive hostel, a 400-seater conference room facility and the renovation of existing facilities were ongoing at the Tamale campus. 

Commendation

He commended the leadership of the ILGS for rolling out cutting-edge graduate programmes to build the capacity of local government practitioners over the years.

“It is remarkable to note that the ILGS from its humble beginnings in 1999 as a project of the then Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, to its establishment in 2003 under the Institute of Local Government Studies Act, 2003 (Act 647); has been transformed into a specialised public management development institution, he said.

One of the students in a handshake with Mr. Daniel Botwe

He also congratulated the graduands and urged them to use the knowledge they had acquired to produce the necessary solutions to the myriad of problems that are confronting Ghana’s economic transformation and local development.

“Let your positive impacts be felt in whatever field you find yourself and together with other well-meaning Ghanaians, we can all move Ghana forward in one direction, building back better,” Mr Botwe said.

Attendance

In attendance were Prof. Emeritus Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Chairman of the ILGS Council, Prof. Charles Marfo, who represented the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Frank Annoh Dompreh, Member of Parliament for Nsawam/Adoagyiri Constituency, Nii Torgbor Obodai II, Chief of Ogbojo, staff and students of the ILGS.