Volta Region tops Regional Coordinating Councils ranking in Local Government report

The Local Government Service (LGS) has rated the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) as the top performing among the 16 regions for the year 2020.

The rankings were released by the Office of the Head of the LGS, following a monitoring and verification exercise of the 2020 Service Performance Contract of all 16 Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) with emphasis on their overall assessment.

The scoring rated performances from excellent to unsatisfactory, with the Volta, Savannah, Bono East, Bono, and the Greater Accra RCCs claiming excellence, while the Western North and the Oti performed unsatisfactorily according to the ranking.

The VRCC scored 94.88 points, the Savanna Regional Coordinating Council, which came second, scored 89.50, and the Bono East Coordinating Council placed third with 86.95 points.

UWRCC, AHRCC, WRCC, NRCC, and UERCC, which scored between 77.23 and 70.55 per cent and placed sixth to 10th position scored ‘very good’ category.

A ‘Good’ position was occupied by CRCC, ARCC, and ERCC returning scores of 68.85, 65.38, and 63.70 per cent for 11th, 12th, and 13th positions with NERCC, which came with ‘Satisfactory rank, placing 14th with 57.08 per cent.

Western North got the 15th position with a score of 49.10, and the Oti Regional Coordinating Council, which placed last, recorded a score of 47.55.A performance ranking of the 260 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies placed the Nkoranza North District in the lead with 92.69 points.

The North Dayi District, which emerged first in the Volta Region with 80.32 points, placed 59th on the national scale.

The Hohoe Municipality and the North Tongu District were ranked second best in the Region with 78.25 points each ranking 74th nationally, while the Keta Municipality scored last with 45.07 points and placing 248th on the countrywide ranking.

Some critical observations captured in the report include understaffing in rural Assemblies and overstaffing in the urban offices, and the lack of professional staff in some jobs category.

The report also noted poor records management, absenteeism, and unavailability, as well as weak supervision of staff.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa said the VRCC and its management scored vintage performance to be adjudged best for the period under review but indicated there’s more room for improvement.

He paid glowing tribute to the team at the VRCC, the unsung heroes and heroines as well as heads of departments.

He expected the MDAs to have occupied up to the 50th mark but the best position for the region was 59th.

Dr. Letsa, who is also the chairman of RCCs said the report would be digested and a workshop is in the offing for the actors and duty-bearers for corrective measures and technical backstopping roles would be activated for better results in the future.