Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Justice Samuel Adjei, has urged Parliament to scrap the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).
He was of the view that the DACF had made most of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) reluctant to find innovative ways of generating funds locally to undertake developmental projects.
Mr. Adjei made the call at a stakeholders’ meeting in Sunyani organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), a Non-Governmental Organisation.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ObwkISHjIXd4SELf3QziRroZVJAvuqia”]The meeting was aimed at sensitizing the general public on the outcome of a project the NGO, with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) implemented in Kintampo South District, Techiman, Sunyani and Berekum Municipalities in the Region.
Dubbed; “Enhancing civil society capacity to engage MMDAs to promote transparency, accountability and efficient service delivery at the local level,” the 18-month project was also aimed at empowering the Assemblies to mobilize enough revenue locally for development.
Mr. Adjei noted that the idea for the establishment of the DACF was to supplement local revenue generation, and broaden the scope of funds available to the MMDAs to enable them to undertake major development programmes.
But, he expressed disappointment that most of the MMDAs virtually depend on the DACF for development to the neglect of the mobilization of local funds.
The Deputy Regional Minister suggested that if the DAFC is scraped, it will compel the MMDAs to be proactive enough and develop new strategies for local revenue mobilization.
Mr. Adjei advised tax payers to ensure the prompt and regular payment of their taxes, to position them strongly to demand accountability from the Assemblies.
According to Article 252 (2) of the 1992 Constitution and the DACF Act 1993, Act 455, Parliament is mandated to make provision for the allocation of not less than five per cent (5%) of the total national revenue to the DACF for the implementation of development programmes in the MMDAs.
Section 7 (a) of the Act further requires the Administrator of the DACF to propose annually for the approval of Parliament, a formula for sharing the Common Fund to the Assemblies.
Source: GNA