Govt Accused of Undermining Local Governance System

By Hajia Alima Mahama

The Association of Former Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration has accused the Akufo-Addo-led government of undermining the local governance system.

It contend that allocations for development to the various districts assemblies under the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) have suffered a shortfall, thus affecting development.

The annual allocation to the DACF in 2018 as contained in the Appropriation Act is G¢1.8 billion.

Spokesperson for the association and former District Chief Executive (DCE) for Sekyere Afram Plains, Donkor Fuseini, noted that the 20 per cent allocation from the fund for development amounted to some degree of neglect.

"Now the Common Fund is going to be split with 40 per cent going to fund the School Feeding Programme, 20 per cent going to fund Nation Builders Corps, 20 per cent going to fund Planting for Food and Jobs, only 20 per cent left for development and other activities at the district assembly level."

"It is for this reason that we believe this is a great injustice in terms of the development of people at the district level," Mr Fuseini lamented.

It should be noted that the government budgeted GH¢600 million for the Nation Builders Corps initiative and there is no official allocation for it in the District Assembly Common Fund formula.

The District Assembly Common Fund also set aside $20m for the management and disbursement of the District Development Fund (DDF).

In developing the formula, the Administrator for the District Assembly Common Fund, Irene Naa Torshie Addo, has explained she was guided by the 'Basic Needs' approach to development with Health Service, Education Service, Water Coverage and Tarred Roads Coverage serving as key indicators.

Under this approach, Metropolitan Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs) with more facilities or services received less in order to bridge the development gap between the assemblies.

A total of 38 new assemblies have been established bringing the total number of MMDAs to benefit from the fund in 2018 to 254.

Some of the national programmes supported over the years have been the School Feeding and National Borehole programmes and the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency.

Also, about 4 per cent of the fund is shared to Members of Parliament for a constituency project, 1.5 per cent is shared among the 10 Regional Coordinating Councils for supervision of the assemblies in their respective regions while two per cent is reserved to meet contingency expenditures. -citinewsroom.com

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