NDC urges citizens to participate in local govt elections
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged Ghanaians to participate fully and actively in today’s District Assembly Elections.
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It said the exercise was an integral part of the country’s governance processes and the fulcrum of Ghana’s local and decentralisation governance.
“Over the years, Ghana’s local government system has been acclaimed on the African continent and elsewhere for giving true meaning to governance and participation in development at the local level,” it said.
Concerns
A statement issued by the party and signed by the national chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, however, expressed concerns about the capping and realignment policy by the current government on the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) used by the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to undertake developmental projects.
It said the situation had left many of the MMDAs highly encumbered and incapable of undertaking any meaningful development at the local level.
“Currently, Common Fund payments are in arrears for several quarters, thereby making it difficult for the Assemblies to procure even basic supplies for their effective running,” it said.
Revival
The statement said the next NDC government would pursue measures to bring back life to the local government system.
It said the NDC would revive the ailed assemblies by abolishing the Capping and Alignment policy in order to free up the DACF which will be channelled into the real development needs of the MMDAs in order to address development, including infrastructural and other needs of local areas.
It said the party would empower the assemblies to generate and retain more internally generated funds to finance their operations and other activities.
The statement said an NDC government would also complete the operationalisation of sub-district structures (Town and Area Councils and Unit Committees) with the allocation of a percentage of the assemblies’ revenue to fund micro projects within their jurisdiction.
It stated that it would also reduce the number of Ministers and redirect the savings made to pay allowances to Assembly members and also reverse the current trend of decentralisation of award of District-level contracts to ensure real devolution of power to the districts.
That, it said, would go a long way to restore the almost broken local government system, strengthen decentralisation and deepen accountability.