Mr Akwasi Owusu-Bi, Local Governance Specialist has called for a proper coordination among the subnational agencies on their activities and timely release of the budgetary allocations to them if we want to achieve effectiveness and efficiency in our local governance discourse.
He said the habit of allocating moneys to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to continue unattended to programs and projects without revalidating them to verify their relevance to the time was worrying and must be stopped for effective and efficient outcomes.
He said though budgetary allocation to the course of Decentralisation and Local Government was increased by about 41.9 per cent, from GHC1.1 billion in the 2020 Budget to GHC1.6 in the 2021 budget, we could not witness any better change from the previous outcomes.
However, he appreciated the fact that it was the first time the budget was given recognition to the importance of Decentralisation because Decentralisation has been added to the name of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
Mr Owusu-Bi who made the call on Spice Fm’s Adzekye Mu Nsem Show in Takoradi bemoaned the lack of national development goals and advised that political party manifestos should not supercede the country’s goals, but should be tailored to suit the national development goals instead.
He contended that though some political party manifestos conform to our national development plans, however, because of political expediency they are often compromised.
He pointed out that short to medium term development plans of the Government should be available at the Area and Urban Councils so that members of the public can access it to monitor executions of such programs and projects to demand transparency and accountability.
Meanwhile, using the District Assemblies Performance Assessment Tool (DPAT) II, an amount of GH¢185,931,850.00 was transferred to qualifying MMDAs as investment grant allocation to support the implementation of respective 2020 Annual Action Plans and Budget.
In 2021, the Ministry will conduct a performance assessment using DPAT for 260 assemblies based on 2019 financial year performance.
The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development through the Department of Community Development is promoting the Alternative Livelihood Programme in 18 illegal mining-affected districts.
In 2021, the Department of Community Development will retool and upgrade 2No. CDVTIs to provide technical and vocational training to 5,000 youth, provide alternative livelihood skills training for 1,250 persons to address the challenges of illegal mining activities, and to train 600 social workforce in child and family welfare issues.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
