MPS HAVE NO ROLE IN DISTRIC ASSEMBLIES

THE 1992 Constitution provides elaborate provision on the devolution of economic and political power to the people at the grass roots level.
Almost four years before the adoption of the Constitution with a broad framework for local government administration, the then Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) increased the number of the administrative districts of the country from 65 to 110 by creating new districts from the existing ones. Today, Ghana has 138 administrative districts.
Then the framers of our Constitution decided to make decentralisation an important element of participatory democracy, which represents a substantial reduction in the authority of the Central Government over the needs of the people at the grass-roots level.
Article 241(3) of the Constitution states that: Subject to this Constitution, a District Assembly shall be the highest political authority in the district and shall have deliberative, legislative and executive powers.
Effective decentralisation and democratic local governance require authority, resources and skills to enable the people to make responsive choices and to act effectively in a transparent and accountable way.
For this to be successful, it is incumbent on the Central Government to recognise the need to improve the capacity of District Assemblies and individual citizens to take responsibilities for their communities by way of local priority setting, assisting in the implementation of such priorities and evaluating them to ensure that they are successful.
We know the Central Government is doing all it can to improve the capacity of the District Assemblies and individuals in various ways.
However, concerns raised at a symposium on “Resourcing District Assemblies for Effective Local Governance”, which was part of the 59th New Year School held in Accra, indicate that all is not well with our decentralisation system or process.
A senior lecturer of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, has proposed the scrapping of the Members of Parliament (MPs) share of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) for a separate fund captured in the annual budget.
He cited the power struggle between District Chief Executives (DCEs) and MPs concerning the DACF and the constitutionality of its disbursement as some of the problems associated with the DACF.
The Chairman of the Local Government Council, Nana Boakye-Danquah, also said parliamentarians were not development agents, hence the development of the districts was not part of their jurisdiction.
Since MPs are legislators and not development agents, it will be in their interest to remain legislators and leave the development of the districts to the District Assemblies.
This way, the persistent conflicts between DCEs and MPs as a result of the struggle for the control over the DACF and by extension the development of the district would cease.
The guidelines regulating the disbursement and especially use of the Common Fund by the Assemblies constitute another sore point.
The guidelines have restricted the District Assemblies in their use of the Common Fund such that they cannot use any part of it to meet the needs of the people once these particular needs fall outside the guidelines.
The Daily Graphic believes this affects effective decentralisation and so some concessions could be made so that the Assemblies, particularly the less endowed ones, could meet some peculiar needs.
The Daily Graphic again believes that the time has come for a review of our decentralisation process to achieve the spirit and letter of the Constitution by way of ensuring total devolution of power and resources to the people through the District Assemblies.
It would be worthwhile if the review considers the need to re-visit the idea of electing DCEs so that they would be accountable to the people rather than the President.
In the meantime, MPs should look at the Constitutional provision on the decentralisation process vis-à-vis their role as legislators and legislate themselves out of the District Assemblies.