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Head of Local Government Service, Dr. Nana Ato Arthur says public service exists because of the need for mobilization and allocation of resources and to provide goods and services that would not have been produced by the private sector.

He mentioned the public service is financed through taxes and is publicly accountable and that in  service delivery, the public administration engages with clients, citizens, residents, enterprises among others who seek to handle their affairs and affords staff the opportunity to fulfill their mandate duties, that is why the need to create a client service units in all the 16 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies(MMDAs) in the country to aid pressure on the assemblies.

Dr. Ato Arthur observed that the levels of satisfaction of services rendered are mostly reflected in complaints, enquiries and feedback received through various channels at the institutions of the service and the client service unit in place serves as an interface between the local government service (LGS) and those who transact business with the service to manage interactions and meet their expectations.

He made the remarks at a two days workshop for MMDCEs from central and western region on the Ghana secondary cities support program (GSCSP) and management on the newly developed Local government service (LGS) client service at Elmina a suburb community in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipality (KEEA) of the Central Region.

"The Ghana secondary cities support program has the objective to support selected Municipal Assemblies (secondary cities) to become better city managers in providing urban services and has targeted strengthening client service units as strong institutions for citizens’ engagement and grievance redress," he stressed.

He emphasized that a functional client service system helps in transparency and accountability which will help to protect the reputation of the client and citizens in general and also to identify positive organizational changes to improve service delivery, saying "unfortunately our current client service system is plagued with challenges".

"The provision of information timeously to citizens will erase any shred of suspicion and doubt, engender confidence of citizens in the respective local government (Assembly) and promote collaboration between citizens and duty bearers in the developmental agenda," he added.

Dr. Ato Arthur revealed the client service unit plays a pivotal role in every organization as it is the first point of call for clients, hence it is imperative to streamline the processes and procedures involved in its management to propel the service to the realization of the vision of a world class decentralized and client oriented service.

"Local governance is evolving. Citizens have become more discerning and demand accountability from duty bearers. This calls for a professional, motivated client service to readily receive requests and grievances, dispatch them to the appropriate department/unit and send feedback to clients within the set timelines. Citizens want to know why streetlights are not working, where and how to access building permits, where to pay property rates, etc. Thus, a functional client service can be an enabler in our quest for improvement in revenue generation. These make the client service units essential in the administrative set-up," Dr Arthur stated.

He therefore reiterate that the office of the head of the local government service will continue to train its staff in the various classes to equip them with new knowledge to give off their best in the delivery of their mandate.