Akufo-Addo deems citizens participation as prerequisite for good governance - Ohene-Konadu

The National Coordinator for the governments Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat, Hon Gifty Ohene-Konadu (Mrs) has emphasized the importance of citizens’ participation to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his government.

Hon. Ohene-Konadu, delivering the welcome address at the opening ceremony of a two-day validation workshop on the Annual Citizens Assessment Survey at Koforidua on Thursday, July 15, 2021, said the perception survey falls in line with the thinking of the President “who deems citizens’ participation as a prerequisite for effective and efficient governance.”

According to Hon Ohene-Konadu who heads the newly created Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat, the Citizens Assessment Survey which seeks to collate public perception and opinions on the government’s flagship policies and programmes, will go a long way to improve effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of such policies and as well make government agencies more accountable.

“Again, it will furnish decision-makers and implementers of the flagship programs and development partners with evidence-based information from the citizenry on the relevance, efficacy, and sustainability of government's flagship programs,” she added.

She therefore entreated participants of the workshop to carefully query the issues contained in the survey in order to enable the Secretariat effectively asses the perspectives and views of the Ghanaian citizenry as a way of helping government address the concerns emanating from survey.

Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Senior Presidential Advisor, Hon Nana Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Technical Advisor at the Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor, Mr Poku Kyei said the Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat plays a critical role in the government’s quest to improve public sector delivery by implementing the third component of Public Sector for Reforms Project, which is, Monitoring and Evaluation.

He said the collection of public opinions and perceptions on policies resonates with the governments commitment to being accountable to the citizenry for which reason a lot of interventions anchored on the National Public Sector Reform Strategy (NPSRS) launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akfuo-Addo in 2018 has been put in place.

The Chief Executive Officer for Public Sector Reforms, Dr Thomas Kusi Boafo who was the Chairman for the workshop underscored the importance of the findings of the survey saying it will “furnish decision-makers and implementers of the government’s flagship programmes with evidence-based information from the side of the public who are mainly beneficiaries as to whether the programmes are indeed relevant and even sustainable.”

He gave the assurance that the findings of the Annual Citizens Assessment Survey would serve its intended purpose and urged participants of the workshop to provide valuable inputs for the exercise.

The Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP) initiated by the government of Ghana and funded by the World Bank is aimed at improving efficiency and accountability in the delivery of services by selected public sector entities.

The project has four components: strengthening organizational performance; improving efficiency, accountability, and citizen engagement in the delivery of selected services; improving monitoring and evaluation across MDAs and MMDAs and Project management, coordination, and public reporting.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat (MES) of the Office of the President is one of the implementing entities of the PSFRP with the responsibility for component three (3), which is, Improving Monitoring and Evaluation.

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