Making the district assemblies truly decentralised

The creation of districts in Ghana has been informed by the desire for the central government to decentralise most of its activities for speedy delivery of government projects and programmes.

As second-level administrative subdivisions of Ghana at the regional level, the districts of Ghana were re-organised in 1988/1989 and subdivided the regions of Ghana into 110 districts, where local assemblies are expected to deal with the local administration and the concerns of the people.

An additional 28 districts were created by 2006, which split some of the original 110 and brought their number up to 138. While some districts became so large that they needed to be further split for easy and effective decentralisation, some new ones were created following demands from some communities and people in governance.

Therefore, in February 2008, more districts were created, while others were upgraded to municipal status. That brought the final number to 170 districts. After that, a further 46 districts have been added since June 28, 2012, bringing the total to 216.

It is the general belief that managing districts is less cumbersome than running things nationally and also ensures that no part of the populace is left out in national programmes and projects, especially in the decision-making process.

There are positive innovations such as the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), which gives the financial muscle to  metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) that allows them to finance projects and programmes that will inure to their benefit.

We urge the Ministry of Finance to ensure the timely release of the fund, so that its purpose, which is to afford the MMDAs the freehand to pursue development projects, is not defeated.

There have also been instances when equipment and tools have been purchased at the national level and dumped on districts, without taking cognisance of their peculiar needs or whether they have need for such tools and equipment.

We believe that this only promotes waste in the system, as those who do not have need for such items abuse them or leave them to deteriorate because the assemblies do not even have the remotest need for them.

The districts must be shown and allowed to take care of themselves, instead of central government behaving like a father who always has to dish out things to them.

The Daily Graphic believes that our district assembly system has come of age as an effective way to decentralise and so we must allow the MMDAs to take their own decisions regarding financial management, education, health, sanitation and all other forms of development for the people living in the respective jurisdictions.

We should not impose projects on the districts, except where they are national in character, so that the people, through their assembly members, will take control of their destiny.