Decentralize policy fair to districts to allow grass roots participation – PRO CWSA

Mrs. Pauline Estella Tambro (1st left) @ the 2013 policy fair

By Patrick Baidoo

The Government of Ghana (GoG), as part of its efforts to allow all persons contribute towards policy formulation, and  review and at the same time create a one-stop avenue where the citizenry can confidently go and seek information from the various Government agencies has rolled out the Ghana Policy Fair.

The fair which was started in 2010 for the fourth year was again held in Ghana’s capital – Accra, which has prompted people asking whether the organizers have been able to allow persons at the grassroots to participate and benefit from its core objectives, as stated.

This call stems from the fact that people came from the regions and districts to simply seek information and to know where to report problems that they face, a situation which undermines the objectives of the fair.

In that vein, Mrs. Pauline Estella Tambro - Public Relations Manager (PRM), Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has called on the Ministry of Information and Media Relations the organizers to develop a mechanism that would help evaluate the impact of the fair and also decentralize it to the regions and districts for the larger population at the rural levels to benefit from what the fair seeks to achieve.

The CWSA is a GoG agency mandated to facilitate delivery of rural water and water- related sanitation services to the rural communities and small towns. 

“A chunk of the people are at the grassroots hence by decentralizing the initiative we will be fair to those living in the communities and also save them the headache of roaming to find where to seek information and report problems”, she noted. 

She indicated that since the population in Accra have easy access to various avenues to report problems, seek information and contribute to policy formulation and reviews:  especially the media, social platforms and internet, it makes sense to hold the fair in the regions and districts for all and sundry to benefit from the objectives. “A man came all the way from the Volta region to ask where he should report the poor management of water systems in his community. This is wrong and should not be the case”.

Notwithstanding, Mrs. Tambro praised the organizers for the fair. “We have had private people and investors calling in to introduce products and seeking appropriate quarters to do business and struck partnerships”.

“But more importantly, the regional and district fairs which should be done in collaboration with the Regional Coordinating Councils and District Assemblies will serve the larger population at the grassroots and stop them from travelling on long routes to make enquiries and report problems that can easily be dealt with by mandated agencies in the districts and regions”.

Chief of Staff

In line with this same assertion, Mr Prosper Douglas Bani, Chief of Staff at the Presidency, closing the fair recently made a similar comment “the policy fair has lived up to expectation by providing information to the public on various national issues but there is the need for the extension of the programme to other parts of the country”.

About the Policy Fair

The Policy Fair concept was conceived in collaboration with the country’s development partners such as the World Bank, UNDP, among others, was first carried out in 2010.

Some of the topics to be treated during this year’s dialogue session include “Rationalization of wages for improved performance and sustainable economic development: The case of the Single Spine Pay Policy”, “Promoting the petro-chemical industry for accelerated economic development” and “promoting the creative arts to accelerate national development”.