LME launches Capacity Development Plan

The Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy or LME has launched a Capacity Development Plan or CDP which aims at strengthening the mining sector here.

Deputy LME Minister for Planning and Resource Development, Stephen B. Dorbor, says the CDP is a document formulated to identify the strength and weaknesses of the ministry in relations to its statutory mandate.

He says the CDP is intended for the ministry to carryout gap analysis on its performance, adding that the idea behind the CDP is to look whether the ministry is executing its mandate as an arm of government that is responsible for lands, energy and natural resources.
The Deputy Minister said every entity of government has its own role, in terms of contributing to efforts towards national development, noting that it’s against that backdrop the exercise is launched.

He names lack of cooperation as one of the challenges encountered while preparing the CDP, explaining that “reform by itself is a challenge whenever you start to carry out some changes, many will not agree with your ideas”, but at the end, they were able to overcome those challenges.

Minister Dorbor says now that the document has been launched, their expectation is how to make sure that some of the recommendations mentioned in the plan are implemented, saying, “We want to find a way to submit it to cabinet, because when you want to do reforms, you must reach to relevant institutions, indicating to them that this is what you want and must do.”

However, he notes that not all of the recommendations therein will be applicable, because some of these are just comparative analysis among ministries and sectoral agencies.

For his part, Deputy Lands, Mines and Energy Minister for Administration, Jenkins .O Atuanya, says the ministry is one step away from where it was in terms of meeting its reforms plan, adding that the transformation agenda of the country requires collective efforts from line ministries and agencies, including the Governance Commission and Civil Service Agency, CSA, among others.

“The process of reforms at any institution takes a whole lot, and what we have done here speaks volume to the fact that we are making progress in terms of meeting the national reforms agenda of the government”, he expresses.

International partner GIZ, and CDP Consultant, Ms. Christina Von Heyden, expresses delight over the launch of the development plan, saying it t will create an enabling environment for the ministry and the government at large.

According to her, the CDP recommendations must be implemented to enable the ministry achieves its mandate as a revenue generation entity of the government.

By Lewis S. Teh-Editing by Jonathan Browne