Accra: Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, a local governance expert, emphasizes the necessity for all capacity-building initiatives within Ghana's local government system to prioritize ethics and ethical conduct at the core of their training. Local governance is seen as the frontline of Ghana's governance architecture and the structure closest to the people, thus requiring practitioners to serve as ethical role models.
According to Ghana News Agency, Professor Ahwoi made these remarks during the 2nd Biennial Professor Samuel Nunoo Woode's Memorial Lecture held in Accra. The lecture was themed 'Building Capacity for Professionalism and Ethical Conduct in Ghana's Local Governance System.' The Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), in collaboration with the family of the late Prof. S.N Woode, has institutionalized the 'S. N. Woode Biennial Memorial Lecture' to honor the legacies and service excellence of the ILGS's Founding Director.
The inaugural lecture took place on July 21, 2023, marking the 20th Anniversary of the ILGS Act, 2003 (Act 647) and focusing on solutions for societal betterment through renewed ethical commitments in public life. Prof. Ahwoi highlighted the need for 'training of trainers' programs within local government training, suggesting that the vast local government space requires more trainers for effective training, rather than sole reliance on ILGS.
He advocated for the decentralization or regionalization of training, recalling the establishment of 10 Regional Mobile Planning Teams with UNDP support, which built district-level capacity in decentralised planning. A similar 'Regional Mobile Capacity-Building Team' model could promote professionalism and ethicality in current local government structures.
Prof. Ahwoi stressed that ethics should be a mandatory element of all training programs, covering all local governance actors. He recommended incorporating compliance with professional and ethical standards as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) in staff performance monitoring. A local government-specific Code of Conduct and Ethics was suggested to guide and enforce uniform behavior standards across the sector.
He called for organizations within the local government sector, including the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), to join the campaign for professionalism and ethicality. Ethical governance principles, he said, revolve around honesty, humility, integrity, and decency, requiring prioritization of people's interests over personal ones.
Despite numerous challenges, the ILGS has succeeded in its mandate, offering courses, workshops, seminars, and conferences for those in local government, and has promoted research and developed training materials for various local government units.