SENSITIZATION SEMINAR FOR MDAS (PAGE 13, NOV 24, 2010)

A sensitisation seminar on the Legislative Instrument (LI) 1961, with particular reference to the establishment of the new Department of Trade, Industry and Tourism and its linkage with the Business Advisory Centres (BACs) and Rural Technology Facilities (RTCs) within the District Assembly system, has been held in Sunyani, the capital of the Brong Ahafo Region.
The objective of the seminar was to help the stakeholders to identify practical ways of absorbing the BACs and the RTFs into the new department and ultimately mainstream them within the district assembly concept to ensure sustainability of the two structures.
It was organised by the Rural Enterprises Project (REP) in collaboration with its supervising Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Local Government Service.
The target groups were: District and Municipal Chief Executives, District Coordinating Directors, District Finance Officers, Planning Officers and other stakeholders from 66 participating districts of the REP in Ashanti, Brong Ahafo. Central, Western, Northern, Eastern, Upper East and Volta regions.
Mr Mahama Ayariga, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, who addressed the function, stressed that the ministry was pursuing a policy for strengthening the informal private sector by initiating the establishment of a national institutional framework for the promotion of micro and small-scale enterprises at the district, metropolitan and regional levels.
He explained that the bulk of the micro and small-scale enterprises operated at the district level, however, most of them did not operate at sustainable levels due to a number of reasons, including the lack of relevant business development support services.
The deputy minister further indicated that the passing of the LI 1961, 2009, sought to operationalise the decentralised departments, which included trade, industry and tourism at the district level as the substantive departments of the district assemblies.
Mr Ayariga also pointed out that the function of the new department within the assembly system, which among others, shall facilitate the promotion and development of small-scale industries, the task of the new arrangement was consistent with the objective of the REP and the operations of the BACs and the RTFs.
The National Coodinator of the REP, Mr Kwasi Atta-Antwi, explained that the BACs and RTFs were institutional structures that had strengthened the capacity of the assemblies to promote micro and small- scale enterprises and facilitated local economic development.
However, he noted that the assemblies face the challenge of directly paying for the salaries of the staff appointed by the assemblies to the two structures, and that was mainly because technically, the staff were not part of the assembly system which resulted in their demotivation and high attrition in some districts.