Coalition embarks on accountability project

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) is embarking on a social accountability pilot project in Sefwi Wiawso and Bibiani districts in the Western region to ensure transparency.

Ms Beauty Emefa Nartey, Communications Officer of GACC at a media forum in Accra said the project would be carried out through monitoring of the operations of the districts to know how accountable they have been to the people.

The 14 - month project was initiated in May 2014 with support from USAID and the Local Governance and Decentralization Programme on the theme; “Enhancing the capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to engage district assemblies to ensure transparency and accountability.”

The project is aimed at strengthening CSOs’ capacity to influence local government priority and monitor implementation of their annual action plans, improving trust between metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies and supporting advocacy efforts at local and national levels to improve timely disbursement of funding to MMDAs and other agencies.

The GACC project is also aimed at institutionalising a platform at the local level to foster engagement between civil society actors and local government.

According to Ms Nartey, the project is demand driven and not supply driven because government provides funds for the districts and the people should be able to demand or ask questions about how the funds were used in the districts.

She said the project would also serve as a platform between the key actors at the district and national levels and also enable the districts to work effectively with civil society to enhance the image of the assembly.

Ms Nartey noted that to achieve the goals, certain activities would be undertaken, including engaging stakeholders on issues, formation of local accountability networks, monitoring selected district assemblies physical projects, monitoring funds received from national level to ascertain actual releases and related challenges.

She noted however that the project is neither to create hostility between districts and their people and also not intended for witch hunting and called for the support of the media to ensure an effective implementation.