Over 72 petition govt for creation of new district

Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said on Monday that the government had received over 72 petitions for the creation of new districts.

He said of common interest to the petitioners was the benefit their localities would derive from the allocation of the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF).

Mr Baah-Wiredu was delivering a speech on: "The strengthening of local government for sustainable development" at the 53rd New Year School which is underway at the University of Ghana, Legon.

The school is being organised by the Institute of Adult Education on the theme: "Good Governance and Sustainable Development".

Mr Baah-Wiredu said about 10 billion cedis was needed for the creation of a new district "and although I will not attempt to speak for the President, I believe to create 72 new districts would be a problem".

Mr Baah-Wiredu said Government would, however, examine the petitions and those that needed serious attention would be considered. He said under the decentralisation policy it was the responsibility of district assemblies to enhance socio-economic development at the local level.

This policy was, however, being hampered by lack of adequate resources and the political will to make the sub-district assembly structures, such as the unit committees and the area and town councils, functional.

Mr Baah-Wiredu expressed the government's commitment to strengthen the structures of the Assembly by paying members' sitting allowances to enable them to perform efficiently.

"There is double allegiance of the proposed decentralised department at the district level as the staff continue to be recruited and paid by the central government”, he said, adding that the implementation of sectoral programmes, including donor funded projects at the grassroots without reference to the district assemblies, were creating problems for the effective integration and co-ordinated development.

He said a key challenge facing the local government system was the lack of sound financial management in the district assembly. "To most critics of the decentralisation process, the local government sector is not well equipped to manage the huge resources entrusted to it."

Mr Baah-Wiredu said the ministry was creating an inspectorate division and would appoint internal auditors to assess the progress of projects and check malfeasance.

Mr Baah-Wiredu said since his assumption of office he had toured 91 districts and identified low revenue generation and under utilisation of economic potentials as common problems.

He appealed to district assemblies to encourage inter-district trade and other commercial activities and also explore wider markets for their goods and services.

During an open forum, participants expressed dissatisfaction about the massive destruction of the country's vegetation by chain-saw operators and appealed to the district assemblies to be proactive in checking the problem.

They asked for improved remuneration for members of the district Assembly to motivate them to give of their best.