ACCOUNTABILITY CRUCIAL FOR DEV (AUGUST 3, 2009)

THE government introduced the decentralisation programme in 1988 to bring the decision-making process to the doorstep of the people.
At the time, only political power was devolved to the grass root level, with the central government still maintaining its hold on financial authority.
Most of the projects in the various districts were still approved at the top and imposed on the people. There was no participation in the design and execution of those projects, thereby reducing the people to mere spectators of the political game.
Then came the period for the drafting of a new Constitution for the country, during which the framers of the supreme law of the land recognised the immense role of decentralisation in the governance process and recommended that a certain percentage of national revenue be set aside to carry out development activities in the districts.
It was christened the District Assemblies Common Fund and the seven per cent of national revenue put in the fund is shared among all the district assemblies to promote development projects.
Some time during the period, the assemblies received support from the HIPC Fund and the GETFund to initiate poverty alleviation projects and improve educational infrastructure in the districts.
From cash-strapped decentralised units of state, the assemblies, over the past decade, have received massive infusion of funds to better the lot of the people.
But that expectation is still a pipe dream.
Under the Constitution, the assemblies are the highest political authorities in the districts “that shall have deliberative, legislative and executive powers”.
They have elaborate structures in place to compel the people in charge of their finances to account for every pesewa. No budget of theirs can be effective without the scrutiny of the Executive Committee and the general assembly of all the elected members and government appointees in the districts.
Nonetheless, the fact that we are implementing a decentralised system of governance at the local level does not mean that the central government should fold its arms and watch in helpless amazement while those put in charge of the assemblies cannot account for their stewardship.
The directive by President J. E. A. Mills to the Local Government and Rural Development Minister to order the immediate auditing of the accounts of all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to establish the efficient use of resources allocated only reinforces the NDC administration’s commitment to freedom, justice, probity and accountability.
The DAILY GRAPHIC endorses any move that will make sure that no public official misapplies resources meant to change the living standards of the people.
It believes that if elected representatives, political appointees and public servants are not held in check to account for their stewardship, the lofty ideals behind the decentralisation process will not yield any fruitful results.
The government should not feel intimidated in pursuing the agenda to instil probity and accountability in the use of public funds at the district assembly level.
Officials of the assemblies, including past district chief executives, should welcome the move by the government to clean the system and desist from shouting from the rooftops that the exercise is meant to find scapegoats.
We hope that this exercise by the government will send the right signals to all public office holders that no act of malfeasance will go unpunished.