The ideas proposed in this piece have been presented, discussed and reformulated in Local Governance Practitioners’ Forum (LGPF). LGPF is one of the INCLUDE African Policy Dialogues which are encouraging the use of research evidence in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes for inclusive development.

The service orientation of Ghana’s local government system has been practiced for over thirty years with reoccurring challenges such as poor engagement between citizens and local government functionaries, ineffective delivery of basic services such as drainage, sanitation and waste management, and uncontrolled development and sprawls to list a few. While the current system has brought government closer to where people live, its weaknesses are overwhelming. Hence the need to shift gear as the Director General of the National Development Planning Commission advocated for in his recent speech on Ghana’s decentralisation.

This Opinion Piece was first published by the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS). You can access it here.