A stakeholder consultative meeting on the Land Use and Spatial Planning Amendment Bill (2023) has been held in Accra today.

The object of the meeting forms part of the processes required for a bill to go through to become and Act after having consulted key stakeholders.

Stakeholders were drawn from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of state as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies across the nation to give inputs into what will become the final document to serve efficiently its intended purpose.

Speaking at the meeting, Hon. O. B. Amoah, Minister of State at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development (MLGDRD) mentioned that, the Bill is to amend the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act 2016(Act 925) to cure the inconsistencies, inadequacies and ambiguities in some provisions of the Act after six years of implementation.

This he said will enable an effective management of the mandate of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) which was set up by Act 925 especially in pursuant to the recent re-alignment of LUSPA from the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) to the MLGDRD.

The Chief Director of the MLGDRD, Mr. Amin Abdul-Rahaman in his address expressed regret on the issues of acquisition of building permits, absence of local plans, area re-zoning, building of unauthorized structures on waterways amongst others as concerns within various communities and local authority areas.

These and others he said have occasioned reforms within the local government sector towards addressing the aspirations of the people.

Mr. Kojo Yeboah, Acting CEO of LUSPA, was optimistic that the Amendment Bill when passed by Parliament, will change the face of the Authority and propel it onto greater heights to continue to deliver on its core mandate.

Training of Trainers workshop for selected staff of the 48 beneficiary Municipal and District Assemblies under the Gulf of Guinea Northern Ghana Social Cohesion (SOCO) project is ongoing in the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions.

The training of trainers programme,  divided into three zones started on the 15th and would end on the 17^th of August 2023. It is a capacity-building activity to equip participants with the requisite skills to train Community Facilitators and the Community Project Implementation Committees.

The training is taking place concurrently in the Wa, Bolga and Tamale zones

The Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) has held its 6^th congregation ceremony in Accra for about 111 graduates from its Accra and Tamale Campuses on the theme, "Building Back Better through Capacity Development for Effective Decentralisation, Local Governance, Digitalisation and Economic Transformation."

Daniel Botwe, Honourable Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, read a speech on behalf of the Vice President, H. E. Alhaji Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia

, the guest speaker.

In his address, Dr. Bawumia outlined that the emphasis on decentralisation has triggered the creation of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCoD), with powers from the office of the President to coordinate sectoral Ministries working with Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

He also noted that the Local Government Service (LGS) was also established to oversee the effective management of staff of local governments.

According to him, the ILGS has been established to provide structured training to local government staff and functionaries.

Addressing the graduands, Vice President Bawumia said the world is knowledge-based, and therefore, the graduands have been trained on critical and innovative skills required for the needed interventions for Ghana's development.

He urged them to provide the needed solutions to the problems confronting economic transformation and local development.

The Vice President urged the management and staff of ILGS to continue to work hard to create a congenial environment for academic work and introduce more creative and innovative programmes.

Source:                 Public Relations Unit (MLGDRD)