Government initiates DDF project to revitalise assemblies

Accra, Jan. 28, GNA - Government has initiated a District Developm= ent Facility (DDF) as part of efforts to improve the performance of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability. The project is being implemented through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) in collaboration with key development partners such as the Danish International Development Agency, Canadian International Development Agency, KfW (German Development Bank) an= d Agence Francaise Developement.

Under the DDF, government is mobilising financial resources as a discretionary funding incentive to the MMDAs which comply with the rules, legal regulations and policies in the performance of their mandate. Compliance is confirmed through an assessment conducted on yearly basi= s using the Functional Organisational Assessment Tool (FOAT). Mr Kwame Owusu Bonsu, Co-ordinator of the DDF said in a media interaction in Accra that the 170 assemblies have been zoned into six regions, namely; Upper West/Brong Ahafo, Western / Central, Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra /Upper West and Northern and Upper East. The overall objective is to ensure efficient provision of basic community infrastructure and service delivery through judicious use of resources.

The DDF is also designed to mobilise additional financial resources fo= r the MMDAs and provide them with incentives for performance and compliance with Government's legal and regulatory framework.

The MMDAs are also expected to establish a link between performance assessments and capacity building support and ensure harmonised systems for investment funding and capacity building support. Government intends to establish a link between the performance of the MMDAs and the allocation of additional discretionary funding. MMDAs that fulfil all the Minimum Conditions (MCs) under the FOAT are rewarded with additional resources through a Basic Grant and Performance Grant. Those who are unable to fulfil all the MCs are only allocated Capacity Building Grants to address the basic capacity needs identified under the assessment.

Mr Thomas Grotkjaer, Senior Technical Advisor of the DDF in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation said the project aimed at catering for the basic logistic needs of the MMDAs.

The DDF involved the sub- local government structures including Town Councils and Unit Committees, Mr Grotkjaer said. Resource allocation is based on the results of the FOAT. There is a basic grant of 38 per cent of the overall pool allocated to the MMDAs that fulfil all the MCs and equal share of 40 per cent shared to districts that fulfilled all the MCs.

There is also a 50 per cent share based on the proportion of a district's population to the total number of people of MMDAs that accompl= ish all the MCs and a land area of 10 per cent shared based on the proportion o= f a district's land area to the total land area that fulfilled all the MCs. There is a performance grant of 50 per cent of the overall pool allocated in addition to the basic grant for districts, which satisfied all the MCs.

A guiding principle of any expenditure from the DDF Investment Grant should as far as possible benefit the communities in the district directly. The MMDAs may use part of the annual DDF allocation for maintenance of community and social infrastructure backed by a maintenance plan and budget= .. Allowable expenses relating to the maintenance of community and social infrastructure are furniture and fixtures plant and machinery and general equipment. Auditing of all transactions relating to the DDF will have to be done internally alongside regular audits of all district funds. Under the DDF, internal audit reports will include effectiveness of internal controls and extent of compliance with prescribed policies. There would also be reliable accounting systems, data and financial reports, methods of remedying weak controls, verification of assets and liabilities.