Unbridled creation of district assemblies is strain on national purse

By Ebenezer Hanson

The government has been advised to desist from an unbridled creation of new districts so as not to bring a strain on the national coffers, particularly the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).

Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, an ex-Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, who gave the advice at a Public Agenda Engagement Planning Workshop in Accra last Wednesday said, district assemblies (DAs) are created to engage in planning for the district and not just for political expediency.

He dismissed the creation of the Teshie-Nungua District Assembly as superfluous considering its location and jurisdiction.“ One wonders why certain districts have been created, for instance the Teshie-Nungua District Assembly. Districts are created for them to plan for the development of the their areas and not merely for the sake of it since they have implications on the Consolidated Fund.”

The workshop sought to chart a road map for Public Agenda’s Decentralization Project, which has been running since September 2006 with sponsorship from Rights and Voice Initiative. It brought together stakeholders from ISODEC, the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), RAVI and Public Agenda.

The number of districts has recently been increased from 138 districts to 170. Any additional district means the appointment of DCEs, the election of assembly members, allocation of a portion of the DACF to the new districts, among others.

Mr. Ahwoi, who is currently a lecturer at GIMPA, expresses concern about what appears to be the different definitions given to decentralization by different regimes. He observes that these differences in the perspectives of decentralization have contributed to a situation where to the “NPP decentralization means deconcentration and to the NDC devolution of power”.
“ The fundamental problem of decentralization is one of definition and the term has to be defined else one day a judge will define it for us and we may end up with a meaning that we cannot work with, ” he adds.

Additionally, he notes that Public Agenda’s workshops have centered on fiscal decentralization with emphasis on decentralized transfers. He argues that it is time the paper focused on areas such as basic rate and property re-evaluation, which are potential sources for raking in large sums of revenue.

He recognized the need for a write-up on the status of decentralization which would serve as the basis for informed debate on the subject.

Mr. Eric Osae, a lecturer at the ILGS, urged Public Agenda to expand its distribution network of its quarterly supplement, the “Decentralization Agenda” since it has become the “mouthpiece of decentralization”. He also asked the paper to widen its base of operations and collaborate with other NGOs in order to avoid duplication.

He also called for capacity building and provision of logistics for all Public Agenda staff working on the Decentralization Project in order to enhance their efficiency.

Ms. Ruby Quantson of IDEG advocated an engagement between Public Agenda and the Presidential candidates of the various political parties to get the parties declare their position on decentralization.

She also called for intensive advocacy and lobbying regarding the principal issues that have come up during the various workshops on Decentralization. “They are good ideas but it would take intensive lobbying and advocacy to get them through”.