Following the poor performance of the
Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper West Region captured by the 2021 Performance Evaluation Report on Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih has lashed out at the Assemblies.

The Upper West Regional Minister said he was saddened by the position of the region on the league table.
He made these comments during his first day of his working tour of the region in Gwollu in the
Sissala West District on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The tour is an administrative duty he Occasionally embarks on across the region to
gain first-hand assessment of the performance of the various Assemblies and decentralised
departments.

Expressing his displeasure over the abysmal performance of the region, he said: “Whatever we do, we are always assessed. The 2021
performance report was released a few months ago and I was not happy with our position on the league table. I invited the District Chief Executive together with the coordinating
directors to a meeting and I expressed my displeasure at happenings in the districts and municipalities. Out of 260 Assemblies, the best performing Assembly in the region which is

Nandom Municipal Assembly, placed 136. That’s the best performing Assembly in the region – Nandomn.
“First in Upper West Region, but it’s position on the National league table is 136. Your district-Sissala West – placed 6th in the region and its position on the national League table is 214.”

He noted what he stated were the “little, little, little things that had contributed to the abysmal performance of the MDAs in the region which he indicated no Assembly can absolve itself of what the report carried.
He lamented the indiscipline that characterizes staff of the Sissala West District in terms of absenteeism and lack of punctuality amongst them.
“The assessors come to the district and most of you are often not around. Some would disguise themselves and come. Others will also come and reveal themselves to you. And l’m told absenteeism is a canker in this istrict. Not only the Secretariat of the District Assembly, all the decentralized departments encounter that challenge. I’m told when you come here at 10:am on Monday, you’ll think this place is a cemetery. 10:am on Monday. 3:pm on Friday, you will not find a single soul here. And yet, government has commissioned you to lead the development of this area. I want to urge all heads of departments if they themselves are development of this area. I want to urge all
heads of departments if they themselves are not culprits, to take action on their erring subordinates” Dr. Hafiz lamented.
The soft-spoken politician reminded the civil servants that no-body forced them into accepting their job but that they themselves took the decision and applied for the employment. He therefore wondered why such employees would turn around to be exhibiting lackadaisical attitudes towards their work.

“No-body begged you or anyone to take up employment. You sought for employment and you were employed.”
Aside absenteeism and non-punctuality at work,
the Minister also mentioned the practice of doing open party politics at work by the staff, poor documentation, lack of toilet facilities at work places as some of the reasons the report blamed for the abysmal performance of MDAs in the region.

“In the report, it’s also mentioned that
documentation is a problem. The Assessor’s come, request for documents and they’re unable to get the needed documents. So heads of departments and District Coordinating Director, this is an issue that you need to take up seriously.

Official work primarily rely on documentation. So let’s always ensure that whatever transpires in our respective offices are
documented’ Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih enlightened.

Dr. Hafiz expressed shock why at this day and age, an Assembly Secretariat could not have a befitting modern toilet of its own with enough water available to tidy it all the time as though we were in the stone age.
The Upper West Region was ranked 15th in the 2021 Performance Evaluation Report on RCCs and MMDAs.

No District or Municipality within the region managed to fall within the “Excellent” or “Very Good” performing group with only 2 Assemblies falling within the “Good” category.
4 out of the Assemblies were categorised under the “Satisfactory” performers whilst 5 of them were categorized as “Unsatisfactory.”

Source: Upper West Blog