Orientation Day for New Town and City Councils

Two weeks after the municipal elections and the new and returning municipal government leaders are getting a two-day crash course in governance. Following every municipal election, the Ministry of Local Government holds orientation training for all elected officials. The forum is also used to facilitate an exchange of information and networking with agencies that can help to further the work of the councils. Following the training, the ministry will be visiting with each council to guide them into carrying out their duties and functions. Local Government Officer Clifford King tells us more about today’s training:

Clifford King

Clifford King, Local Government Officer, Ministry of Local Government

“Part of the Ministry’s responsibilities is to ensure that these people are sensitized in terms of the organization agencies, government line ministries, also the role and function of the ministry of local government, also on the legislation that govern their governance of these municipalities. So, it is the Ministry’s responsibility to orientate them to the wide and broad variety of agencies, organizations and legislations they will be required to work with.  We’ve brought in the UNDP. We know that we have become a signatory to the UNCAC and so we want to sensitize this new cohort of municipal officials what the UNCAC is about and for them, from the beginning, to understand listen we are in government now and we are here to govern. But these are the principles, these are the tenets that will carry our governing and so we are working with these agencies to make these presentations today. We also have the Integrity Commission who will be here this afternoon to make a presentation on what the Commission is about. The Ministry’s function is to oversee the activities and performance of the municipal governments. Over ten years ago, we made provisions where the Minister has the purview to install financial controllers where the municipal government at hand is not prudent in terms of their municipal management. So, we have those types of facilities that we can utilize whenever we think the way the municipality is being governed is outside of what is required of them.”