RESEARCHERS FROM NATIONAL COLLEGE DEFENCE STUDIES EXPLORE SMART GOVERNANCE IMPACT IN OTI REGION
A team of researchers from the National College of Defence Studies made up of senior military officers and other agencies today, Monday April 7, 2025 commenced a 5-day of an Experiential Research Study Tour (ERST) in the Oti region.
The goal of the experiential research studies (ERS) is to expose Participants to the intricate relations between “SMART governance and sustainable development.” The tour is intended to assist Participants to appreciate how these relations play out in different environments. In particular, Participants will be able to unpack the dynamics of the relationship between SMART governance and sustainable development in local communities, at the national level and how these manifest in other jurisdictions around the continent and beyond. Read More
The sub-theme of the ERST-GHANA is “Linkages between SMART Governance and Sustainable Development in the Greater Accra, Western and Oti Regions.”
In his welcome address, the Chief Director of ORCC, Rev Harry Nii Kwatei Owoo explained that soldiers are responsible to protect and defend the country from external aggression as well as maintain peace and security. He mentioned that the main vision is to gather information to help build strong Intel to improve the implementation of smart systems to ensure peace and security in the region.
He reiterated the commitment of the ORCC to facilitate the data collection of the participants aimed at helping government to implement sufficient policies in the right direction to aimed smart governance.
During a presentation, the team was informed the region is partly covered with water and there are some specific areas in the region that can not be accessed without crossing water bodies. He continued that the region’s topography is made of high and low lands with numerous water bodies and hard to reach communities in the region.
He added that Agriculture plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of the region comprising 80% of the economic activities in the region with food crops as major crops cultivated in the region.
The first leg was to pick three regions in Ghana and go round to gather information, pick out Africa to explore same and go out of Africa to acquire similar information to bring them together to conclude the research work. He said the regions are been picked with different characteristics to see how they use the smart governance to help address the issues.
During a courtesy call on the the Tradional Leadership in Dambai, the Commandant of the National College of Defence Studies, Major General Irvine Nii-Ayitey Aryeetey, expressed appreciation for the overwhelming welcome to the team adding that the team was on a research mission.
According to him, the military has a lot of schools and training programmes for students and the National College of Defence Studies is the highest in Ghana. This, he said most people in the school are of age and are been trained to take leadership mantle in the near future.
He continued that the group is made of one-third of the students population and other groups are at some other regions conducting similar research works.
This group, he said focuses on how government can improve governance through smart systems to enhance development and accountability in the country.
After this research, he explained participants will in three months embark on a trip to three African countries understudy their governance compared to Ghana and will also be visiting some other countries outside African continent before concluding the research activities to make recommendations for government to implement good governance principles.
For their part, the traditional leaders urged the research team to feel free to conduct their research without fear and reiterated commitment to support in the course of the data collection.
They called on the research team to prioritise their personal security and underscored the need for a military camp in the area to ensure peace and security in the area.
The chiefs bemoaned the lack of military presence in the region, stating that some lands were given to government for the siting of military depot and some 100 soldiers were posted in the region.
According to the Chief, although the region was colonised by the Germans who knows the rightful owner, but land ownerships have become a problem causing tribal conflict or land disputes in the area.
They therefore admonished the team to expand their scope of study to do detailed research on land ownership to recommend to government measures to put in place to end the menace of land ownership.
The chiefs stated that they play a crucial role in the implementation and enforcement of by-laws to bring peace and security in the region.
To promote governance and cooperation, the chiefs said clan chiefs had been enskinned to ensure delegation of powers in the local and traditional governance.
