ENHANCE DECENTRALISATION PROCESS — OKYENHENE (SPREAD, DEC 22, 2010)

THE Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amotia Ofori Panin, has called on the government to enhance the decentralisation process to ensure the effective implementation, evaluation and monitoring of various development projects across the country.
He said decentralisation in the area of education, for example, would instil a sense of communal ownership, accountability and transparency at all levels of society.
“Unfortunately, our current centralised system makes it difficult for educational authorities to evaluate and monitor effectively the performance of teachers, a situation that can be solved if those to supervise the teachers are close to them in the communities,” the Okyenhene stated.
Speaking at the end-of-year State Council meeting of the chiefs of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area in Kyebi last Friday, Osagyefuo Ofori Panin stated that “today’s centrality of governance is outdated and has outlived its relevance and usefulness for our development aspirations”.
The meeting was used to discuss several pertinent development issues, such as illegal mining, poor educational standards, security and other issues confronting the socio-economic development of Akyem Abuakwa.
“All over the world, governance systems which are small and scattered are relatively immune to failure, as the local authorities and the communities feel a sense of ownership in the monitoring and evaluation of the progress of community projects,” he stated.
Osagyefuo Ofori Panin stated that the implementation of centralised governance at a time when the country’s population stood at five million was “useful to the nation’s development drive, but with the current population of close to 25 million, a centralised system of governance is completely outdated, as it has outlived its relevance and usefulness to our country’s development drive”.
Buttressing his point, he said when, recently, he went round to inspect the conditions of some of the basic public schools in the area as part of activities marking his 10th anniversary on the stool, “I was faced with the reality that undermines quality teaching and learning.”
“The conditions of those schools and the children were very depressing, as they lacked proper classroom blocks, places of convenience, chairs and tables, electricity and good source of drinking water,” he stated.
“If the educational sector is decentralised, the communities could mobilise resources to complement the government’s efforts at improving basic infrastructure and provide the needed facilities, as well as set up boards to evaluate and monitor the performance of teachers to enhance teaching and learning,” the Okyenhene added.
Osagyefuo Ofori Panin charged chiefs in the traditional area to mobilise prominent citizens in their respective areas to help mobilise resources to address the basic challenges facing some of the basic schools in the area.