CDD holds roundtable on decentralisation

Accra, June 2, GNA - Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Aquinas Quansah on Thursday said government was determined to ensure the transfer of financial resources to assemblies to enhance fiscal decentralisation.

Speaking at a roundtable organised by Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), in Accra Mr Quansah said as part of the plan government would roll out a composite budget in January 2012. The roundtable was to explore how Ghanaians understand competing modes of governance provision at the local level.

It brought together members of parliament, chief executives, educationists, health workers, development partners and traditional authorities.

He said the budget would give meaning to the transfer of staff and the functions of the assemblies, adding that the Ministry was working closely with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to operationalise the integrated district composite budget.

Mr Quansah said the composite budget would support the district assemblies' common fund as a dedicated fund to finance local level development and also donor supported performance based district development facility established as additional source of funds for the assemblies. He said local government and decentralisation reforms were alternative development strategies. He said more than 20 years of implementation had led to incremental changes. Mr Quansah said the local government and rural development sector had been and would continue to be the fulcrum around which the country's development would revolve.