Accra: Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has cautioned metropolitan, municipal and district assembliesto ensure that every deduction they made from the District Assemblies Common Fundwas approved by the assembly members through a resolution.

He said that every single deduction made at source should be through a resolution and that the minutes of the assembly should be signed by the appropriate authorities, particularly the presiding member of the assembly and submitted to the office of the administrator of the DACF through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for approval.

The Deputy Minister served notice that if an assembly had not met to agree on any project through a resolution and signed by the appropriate authorities of the assembly, the ministry would not approve of that project.

Mr Afriyie-Ankrah was speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on the District Assemblies Common Fund for the Parliamentary Press Corps in Takoradi. The workshop sponsored by the Office of the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund was under the theme, "The challenges in the utilisation of the District Assemblies Common Fund and the need to redefine roles of assemblies".

Mr Afriyie-Ankrah explained that when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) assumed the reigns of government it realised that there were problems with deductions from the District Assemblies Common Fund and decided to put an end to it. He suggested an increase in the quantum of money for Members of Parliament common fund to enable them to provide more development projects in their respective constituencies.

He noted that there were always problems during parliamentary primaries of the political parties, where party members wanted to kick out sitting Members of Parliament because they thought they did not do anything for their respective constituencies.

Mr Afriyie-Ankrah urged the journalists to provide feedback on the utilisation of the Common Fund to the ministry since they represented the mouthpiece of the people.

The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo said through the District Assemblies Common Fund, the decentralisation process had deepened as the various assemblies drew their budgets and received funds from the secretariat of the common fund for implementation. "Laudable as this is, the numerous deductions from the assemblies by the secretariat at the whims of a sector minister sometimes, without the approval of the assemblies, defeat the purpose for which the fund was established", he emphasised.

This, he explained was because, the Assemblies might have planned and budgeted for a particular project but the deductions at source incapacitated them from embarking on such planned schedules.

This, he noted might be one of the reasons why Assemblies had many uncompleted projects, thus, retarding efficient service delivery.

The Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund, Mr Joshua Magnus Nicol said there were enough structures and systems in place to enable the assemblies to take up their roles. "At this point of our development, l do not think there is the need to redefine the roles of District Assemblies, but rather to rekindle what they have to do and make available resources and facilities to make them function effectively," he stressed.

He said it would also serve our purpose well if the various groups such as Assembly Members, Executives Committees, District Chief Executive, Presiding Members and sub committees, identified their roles and worked at them.

Speaking on the topic, "The need to redefine roles of the assemblies in the utilisation of the District Assemblies Common Fund", he explained that in the utilisation of the common fund, the assemblies were obliged to ensure that the fund was used in line with the development programmes of the government of the day, and also met the needs of the people.

Therefore, he said it was incumbent upon every assembly to follow the rules and procedures and also put measures in place to ensure effective utilisation of the fund.

He said the central government alone could not take upon itself the responsibility of developing the towns and villages hence the need for the district assembly concept. "Assemblies work at the grass-roots level, and therefore believed that they will be in close contact with the people," he stated.

The common fund administrator pointed out that the assemblies also had planning authorities and were charged with the responsibility of co-ordinating all development projects to be undertaken within the districts.

A Former President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), Mr George Kyei-Baffour, urged Parliament to wean itself off the District Assemblies Common Fund in order to garner the strength to effectively oversee the implementation of the decentralisation agenda.

He said sections 91 of Act 462, which empowers the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to issue financial instructions and section 9 of Act 455, which also mandates the Minister of Finance to approve the development budget expenditure of MMDAs, should be repealed.

Mr Kyei-Baffour also said government should, as a matter of urgency, implement the composite budgeting programme instead of the current treasury re-alignment plan.

"Act 455 should be amended to take on board a District Assemblies Common Fund Board whose membership shall include representatives of MMDAs and other governance institutions to promote greater transparency and efficiency in the management of the DACF," he suggested.

Mr Kyei-Baffour called on the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana and other governance-related civil society groups to intensify their advocacy and lobbying activities to pressurise central government to stop all undue interferences in the fiscal programmes of MMDAs.