District Assemblies Common Fund Research Articles

The experience of persons with disabilities as beneficiaries of Ghana's District Assemblies Common Fund.

Ghana's Disability Fund aims to build the capacity of persons with disabilities, particularly those outside of formal employment, to engage in livelihood generation activities as a way to reduce poverty. The objective of this paper is to investigate the kind of knowledge that exists on the District Assemblies Common Fund program, understand the experience of beneficiaries when they access the program, and examine the benefits on beneficiaries' livelihoods. The research consisted of five focus group discussions with 35 beneficiaries, key informant interviews with six member organizations of Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations, and interviews with eleven Disability Fund Management Committees members. This research found the experiences of beneficiaries on the program are varied yet the program on the whole has had a positive outcomes on their livelihoods. Persons with disabilities who participated in this study demonstrated knowledge of the program. Beneficiaries further described issues relating to the quality of purchased items, the procurement process, as well as reductions and changes to requested items. Disability-specific issues in accessing the funds were also noted. These limited the effectiveness of the Fund to meet its stated goals. The findings of the study can inform the Common Fund Secretariat efforts to improve the performance of the fund as well as the advocacy of the disability movement. The findings are also relevant to the design and implementation of other social protection programmes in low-and middle-income countries.

Commoditizing of Human Beings: An Investigation into the Implications of Kidnapping on National Security in Nigeria

Society often frowns on things considered to be odd and abomination and have shown this in the treatment of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). In developing nations such as Ghana it is quite common to find disabled at street corners begging for arms. This study seeks to assess the impact of the District Assembly Common Fund (DCF) on the socio-economic lives of PWDs and recommend ways to improve the policy. Using a double bowelled technique of both qualitative and quantitative methods of studies. 100 PWDs were selected and interviewed whiles 5 employees each of the social welfare and district assembly workers were also interviewed and analysis were done using Statistical Package Service Solution. Results were generated through descriptive and analytical statistics. The findings show that education; employment and income levels were too low among PWDs to impact positively on their socio-economic status hence more needs to be done to aid in their right to socio-economic freedom. Although the mean monthly income of respondents was GHC 145.20, 56.7% earned between GHC80.00 to GHC120.00, below the national minimum wage whereas at 2014 was GHC184.80.00 per month. Mean monthly income was higher among respondents who had some level of education compared to those who weren’t. The mean amount of money received from the fund was GHC 250.00. Although the PWDs stated that the funds were inadequate they iterated that it went a long way to aid in their livelihood. About 75% indicated that majority of their income was used mostly on food with the rest used for healthcare and other activities. Challenges associated with managing the District Assembly Common Fund ranged from several dimension spanning from the irregular and untimely desperation of funds to the poor administration of the funds. More so, social workers lack proper data and control over the identification of the PWDs in itself. We also found out that some PWDs had no idea of the scheme let alone to partake in it. It is encouraged that future studies should be directed towards a well-structured system for the distribution of items to the PWDs. Keywords : Poverty, Person with Disabilities, District Assembly Common Fund, Asuogyaman DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-1-07

MPs use of the district assembly common fund in Ghana; ‘Perception meets practice'

ABSTRACT Parliaments generally perform functions including oversight, legislation, and representation. In many developing countries, the representation function portrays Members of Parliament (MPs) as Developmental agents in their communities. One of the main sources of funds for MPs in Ghana has been the District Assemblies Common Fund. The Constitution of Ghana has created the District Assemblies Common Fund to transfer financial resources from the central government to local governments. Out of this has been the creation of the MPs share of the District Assemblies Common Fund. The allocation is made to help MPs directly address developmental challenges in their districts. This study attempts to assess the MPs Common Fund from both citizens’ as well as MPs perspectives. This is what we term ‘perception meeting practice’.

The Impact of District Assembly Common Fund on Socio-Economic Activities in the New Juaben Municipality

This paper's value is in determining how the district assembly common money affects socioeconomic activity in NJM. The study, which focused on five thematic areas—instruction, health, poverty eradication, social facilities, and infrastructural development—obtained quantitative and qualitative data using questionnaires, interview guides, and observation. The sample size was thirty-two (32) and included every member of the NJM Assembly. According to the report, society has benefited from a number of advancements in the areas of health care delivery, poverty reduction, social amenities, and infrastructure development. Researchers suggest, based on their findings, that a program be funded by DACF with the goal of cooperating with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to create a rural environment that is conducive to agricultural development. Last but not least, the management of the fund should be governed by tight rules. The impoverished should be the objective, not the wealthy.
 
 Received: 11 December 2022 / Accepted: 21 February 2023 / Published: 6 March 2023

Decentralization and development in Ghana's Fourth Republic

AbstractThis article demonstrates how decentralization can lead to development at the local level, albeit in moderate form. Analyzing data collected from 660 respondents based on face‐to‐face interviews, focus group discussions, and personal observations, we found that the transfer of power and resources to the district assemblies (DAs) has led to the provision of critical social amenities such as roads, education, health‐care facilities, and management of environmental sanitation at the sub‐national level. Respondents are satisfied with the provision of these social amenities because they have led to relative improvements in their basic social needs. Yet, delays and the accumulation of arrears associated with the transfers of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) have deprived the DAs of the needed revenue to deliver far‐reaching social services to the people. The grant of more financial autonomy to the DAs and measures to curtail the overbearing influence of the central government over the administration of the DACF will enhance their capacity to deliver substantial development projects to accentuate the transformation of the rural districts.Related ArticlesAdams, Brian E. 2016. “Assessing the Merits of Decentralization: A Framework for Identifying the Causal Mechanisms Influencing Policy Outcomes.” Politics & Policy 44(5): 820–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12172.Ayanoore, Ishmael, and Sam Hickey. 2022. “Reframing the Politics of Natural Resource Governance in Africa: Insights from the Local Content Legislation Process in Ghana.” Politics & Policy 50(1): 119–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12449.Debrah, Emmanuel. 2016. “Decentralization, District Chief Executives, and District Assemblies in Ghana's Fourth Republic.” Politics & Policy 44(1): 135–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12146.

The District Assembly Common Fund and Fiscal Decentralisation: What is the Impact on Local Development in Ghana?

Local governments have been created as agents of local development in which the people in the local areas are given greater opportunities to influence policies and programs that directly affect their well-being and thereby reducing their poverty levels. But the implementation of the policies and programmes is bedeviled with many problems. Key among them is the issue of financing the local development projects in order to reduce rural poverty. The government of Ghana attempted to reduce this problem when it introduced a development fund in1994 known as the – District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to encourage local governance and deepen Government’s commitment to decentralization in general and fiscal devolution in particular. The study therefore, seeks to assess the impact of District Assembly Common Fund on Local Government Development in the Adaklu District Assembly in the Volta Region of Ghana. The study mainly adopted qualitative methods of research to obtain information on the experiences of the poor people in the Adaklu communities selected as study areas. Interview guides were used to obtain information from the people in the communities, staff of the Assembly and some heads of the decentralized departments. A major finding of the study is that the assembly did not involve the rural people in the poverty reduction programmes in the district.

Ascertaining the Rationale behind the Establishment of District Assembly Common Fund in Ghana

District Assembly Common Fund is the most important area to be given strict attention. This research was conducted to educate readers about the rationale beyond the establishment of the District Assembly Common Fund in Ghana. This study relied on both primary and secondary sources of data. Primary data like fieldwork was used to derive information from the ground. Moreover, secondary data such as Newsletter, articles, published and unpublished works on District Assembly Common Fund were used. Importantly, content analysis was used to analyse the gathered data.

Implementation challenges of social protection policies in four districts in Ghana: The case of the District Assembly Common Fund meant for Persons with Disabilities

This study explores Ghana’s implementation of a policy of two per cent of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) meant for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in four districts. It employed in-depth interviews with PWDs and offi cers in the District Assembly. The study revealed that the District Assemblies did not fully comply with directives from the central government to implement the policy. There were inconsistencies in the implementation of the policy and many PWDs received amounts that were less than they required. Further, fi xed amounts were allocated to PWDs for diff erent purposes and even though the purposes for requests were not clear, payments were made. The study recommends the need to compile and maintain a database of all PWDs in all the Districts in Ghana, implementing uniform format for allocation of the DACF to PWDs, providing support in the form of inputs rather than cash, and mobilising PWDs into cooperatives. The District Assemblies might consider engaging independent evaluators to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the policy to give the much-needed direction to the policy.

Political Economy of Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers: The Rural‐Urban Dynamics in Ghana

AbstractThis study examined the political economy dimension of fiscal transfers from the national government to district assemblies based on the formula distribution policy created under Ghana's 1992 Constitutional democracy. The two‐step system GMM for dynamic linear panel analysis was estimated from locational perspectives of rural and urban in relation to political swing and aligned districts. Data on annual District Assemblies Common Fund transfers and election results were used for the analyses from 1994 to 2014 covering 167 assemblies. From the results, average transfers to each district was Gh 6.28 million but it increased by 3.5 per cent in politically aligned rural districts and by 6.4 per cent in urban swing districts. During election years, the increases were even higher, precisely 5 per cent and 10 per cent for rural aligned and urban swing districts, respectively. These suggested that the government generally targets more urban swing voters than rural aligned voters. The allocation formula was influenced by political factors, as election years tended to be associated with higher transfers. The swing effects dominated the sharing mechanism. Therefore, to reduce political influence on the allocation formula, an independent body should be established to make recommendations directly to parliament. This should dampen the political influence of incumbent governments on the allocations.

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE DISTRICT ASSEMBLY COMMON FUND IN THE NAVRONGO MUNICIPALITY

The study critically looked at the assessment of the District Assembly Common Fund in the Kassena Nankana East Municipal Assembly (Navrongo). The following objectives were used to guide the study. To measure the effectiveness of the disbursement of the District Assembly Common Fund by the Municipality, to assess the impact of development projects on the lives of people in the communities within the Navrongo Municipality, to also determine whether the Common Fund is used judiciously for its intended purpose and to establish other supplementing sources of revenue to the Municipal Assembly for development of communities within the Municipality.The Researcher received relevant books related to the study. Data collected were analyzed using tables, pie charts and percentages. The Researcher used probability and non-probability sampling techniques for the study which came up to a sample size of thirty (30) respondents.The study revealed that majority of the respondents agreed with the assertion that the Common Fund is meant for development projects as well as administrative and supervisory roles.

A Review of Plan Implementation Management Practices in the Bekwai Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana

Implementation is very vital in planning. This crucial aspect of planning (implementation) can only be achieved when appropriate goals and definite objectives are translated into executable strategies. This study aims at evaluating projects planning, implementation and management processes in the Bekwai Municipal Assembly, highlighting their strength and weakness and coming out with recommendations to inform future policy formulation. The case study designs with a sampled population of 310 participants, involving 300 household heads and unit committee members who were enrolled for the study. The study purposively engaged 10 participants from key units within the Assembly’s structure. The results of study demonstrate poor, unsatisfactory level of participation of concerned stakeholders at the grass root level in plan preparation and implementation. The study established that, statutory funding for the Assembly was not forthcoming. At the time of the conduct of the study, the District Assembly Common Fund, the major source of delegated funds for capital expenditures of the various MMDAs had been in arrears for over the past year. Notwithstanding these challenges, the Assembly has consistently been performing tremendously well in the FOAT (Functional Organizational Assessment Tool. Community level involvement in monitoring and evaluation of developmental projects was non-existing as none of the community members and unit committee members indicated their engagement in project monitoring and evaluation. Harnessing the resources potentials and opportunities of the Municipal remains the way forward towards expanding the revenue base of the municipality. Concerned stakeholder involvement is key to facilitating development. This could be done by adopting technologically inclined models such as mobile texting, employing the services of information vans and radio stations. The objective of realizing development project sustainability would be met if communities’ level education is provided on the need for their participation in plan preparation, implementation and management in a symbiotic manner.

The Effects of the District Assemblies Common Fund on District Assemblies Internally Generated Revenue Mobilisation in Ghana: An Analysis of the Early Years of the Fund

The decentralisation system of Ghana requires the transfer of functions to the District Assemblies (DAs). This needs to be accompanied by various type of resources especially funds to ensure its success since District Assemblies are responsible for Ghana’s infrastructural and political development. Financial resource scarcity was common among district authorities which made it more difficult for DAs to carry out their mandated functions. The District Assemblies’ Common Fund (DACF) was introduced to augment the locally generated revenue of DAs. This paper assesses the impact of the DACF on internally-generated revenue (IGR) mobilisation. It seeks to establish the extent to which the introduction of the DACF has influenced local revenue generation of the Bolgatanga, Sissala and Nadowli District Assemblies. In this regard, the discussion covers the legal authority, nature and attributes of the DAs financial resources. The study has established that Central transfers have a dominating importance in the structure of the District Assemblies’ revenue in Ghana. Of the transfers, the DACF constitutes, on the average (for the three districts) 65% of the total income available for the period 1994 –1998. The IGR collection efforts of the three study districts changed in real terms since the inception of the DACF. The huge inflow of central government grants to the District Assemblies has resulted in a reduction in locally-generated revenue and, the high proportion of the DACF contribution to the revenue situation of the three districts implies that all the districts have very weak local revenue mobilisation structures.

Local Government Finance in Ghana: Disbursement and Utilisation of the MPs share of the District Assemblies Common Fund

The establishment of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) in 1993 and concomitant percentage set aside for Members of Parliament (MPs) in 2004 aims to support local governments and legislators in pro-poor development activities in their communities and constituencies. In spite of the importance of the MPs’ share of the District Assemblies Common Fund (MPsCF) in financing local level development in Ghana, very little is known about monitoring systems and procedures on the disbursement and utilization of the funds. The study therefore assessed qualitative data derived from interviews with officials from selected Local Government Authorities (LGAs) as well as other key stakeholders in the disbursement and utilization of the fund. The study findings point to the absence of legislative instrument on the management of the MPsCF. Further, monitoring of the fund was a responsibility shared by the LGAs and other external stakeholders. Finally, the effectiveness of monitoring the disbursement and utilization of the MPsCF was strongly influenced by the relationship between the Chief Executive of the Local Government Authority (LGCE) and MPs in the local government area.

Ghana: Fiscal Policy Responsiveness, Persistence and Discretion

Fiscal policy involves the use of government spending and taxation to influence the level and direction of economic activity in an economy. Fiscal policy affects aggregate demand, the distribution of wealth, and the economy’s capacity to produce goods and services. The objective of the paper is to assess how fiscal policy is influenced by output conditions, past fiscal policy measures and the discretion of fiscal authorities. We therefore employ Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) to decompose fiscal policy in the context of both revenue and spending into its principal components – responsiveness, persistence and discretion. The results show that while government revenue is more responsive to output conditions than government spending, government expenditure is more persistent than government revenue. We also found that fiscal authorities in Ghana have generally low discretion. We think that while an upward adjustment in rates, fees and user charges that raises nontax revenue above 20 percent of domestic revenue would help reduce the responsiveness of government revenue to output conditions, a downward revision of some statutory payments especially the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and a thorough review of others such as GETFund and NHIL could help in introducing some dynamism in fiscal policy setting with the possibility of reducing the existence of fiscal deterioration in the long term

Do formula-based intergovernmental transfer mechanisms eliminate politically motivated targeting? Evidence from Ghana

Various countries have adopted formulas for determining intergovernmental transfers as a strategy to limit the role of political considerations in resource allocation. In this paper, we investigate a formula-based system of allocating resources from a central government to local governments to determine whether the political characteristics of recipient areas have any bearing on their allocation. Specifically, we study the sharing of resources of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) in Ghana amongst the country's district governments over the period 1994 to 2005. We find evidence that the mechanism does not eliminate politically motivated targeting of the grants. Per capita DACF grants were higher in districts where vote margins in the previous presidential election were lower, suggesting that swing districts were targeted. We find evidence that DACF formula indicators and their weighting were chosen and amended to produce politically desired patterns of transfers.

Traditional leadership factor in modern local government system in Ghana: policy Implementation, role conflict and marginalization

The search for appropriate institutional framework for local governance and development has been a difficult task in Africa. Although Traditional Authorities are authentic and time-tested institutions of governance, their role has been politically, administratively, and financially marginalized since the introduction of modern local government system. The focus of this paper is the discussion on the various local government structures, policies and their marginalization strategies. The discussions include indirect rule, establishment of town councils, introduction of public treasuries, the first and second republican local government models and the decentralized system of government with creation of District Assemblies. Some of the strengths and weaknesses of the systems were discussed. The issue of local taxation and the bias of the revenue distribution formula against Traditional Councils are also discussed. The Stool Land Revenue (SLR) shared among Traditional Authorities (TAs) is only 7 per cent of the District Assemblies Common Fund (Grants). The District Assemblies receive 55 per cent of the SLR plus DACF. The political structures, taxation authority, distribution of SLR, and Grants are used as tools to marginalize the traditional authorities. While the performance of some modern local government institutions, as agents of local development, is poor the development efforts of some Traditional Authorities at promoting education, health and environmental management, are highly commendable in Ghana. This indicates that Traditional Councils have potentials that are not fully harnessed due to marginalization. Modern local government stands to gain if Traditional Authorities become active partners and their potentials harnessed for development. Keywords: traditional leadership, agglomeration, devolution, marginalization Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 26(1) 2006: 76-88

Book Review: Local Government and Decentralization in Ghana

The author of this volume, Kwamena Ahwoi, has no doubt benefited in the writing of this book from the insights acquired as a Minister of Local Government in Ghana for over 12 years (he is presently a staff member of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration). Kwamena Ahwoi was the Minister who piloted the Local Government Act 1993 and other important legislation related to local government such as the District Assemblies Common Fund Act 1993, and the National Development Planning (System) Act 1994. This book therefore is both an insider’s view and an academic account.