The Local Government Service (LGS) fourth bi-annual professional conference is underway in Ho, the Volta Regional capital.

The three-day conference is expected to bring together over 400 professional staff of the LGS from Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country.

The professionals are engineers, budget officers, surveyors, development and planning officers, finance officers and coordinating directors, among others.

It will be on the theme: “Transforming Local Government Service through Effective Leadership”.

The Head of the Office of the Local Government Service, Dr Nana Ato Arthur, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra that the conference aimed at improving four thematic areas, namely innovation and revenue mobilisation, sanitation, local economic development and workplace environment.

Best practices and experiences

Dr Ato Arthur said the four areas set out are to encourage and take professional staff of the service through the sharing of best practices and experiences, the role of transformational leadership towards local and national development and the sharing of innovations and challenges.

He said there would be a presentation on the role of the Public Financial Management in fighting corruption by Mr Daniel Yao Domelevo, the Auditor-General.

There will also be presentations on the public sector reform strategy and localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, and a former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Professor Stephen Adei, are the Guest of Honour, Special Guest and Guest Speaker respectively.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Professor John Owusu Gyapong, is expected to chair the conference, which will be hosted by the Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa.