Press Release On Dacf Interface In Tamale

SEND GHANA calls for adherence to guidelines for the disbursement and utilizing 3% of common fund for persons with disability in the Northern Region

SEND GHANA is calling on all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern Region to adhere to the guidelines for the disbursement and utilization on the 3% of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) for Persons With Disability(PWDs).

According to SEND Ghana, access to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) share for People with Disability (PWDs) by PWDs is very limited. Though most districts have established the Disability Fund Management Committees (DFMCs) and opened the Disability Fund Accounts (DFA) ,as directed , there is minimal or no transfers of funds at all into those accounts. The management of the fund is also fraught with misunderstanding between the MMDA’s and the PWDs.

The call follows interface engagements in 16 districts of the Northern Region on an earlier report card issued by SEND GHANA on the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF/Common Fund) , titled ‘making decentralization work for the poor’. The research sought to draw attention to the realization that proper implementation of decentralization, especially fiscal decentralization, is critical to reducing poverty particularly among the rural poor in Ghana. The report indicated that to a large extent, the Assemblies were not adhering to guidelines provided for the utilization of the fund especially in respect of the 3% share for persons with disability.

The assemblies are directed to open a District Disability Fund Account (DDFA) into which the PwDs share of the fund will be transferred. But SEND Ghana found out that only the Tamale Metropolitan, Yendi Municipal and Savelugu-Nanton District Assemblies had active District Disability Fund Accounts. The rest of the districts have either not opened their accounts and where the accounts exist, have since their opening not received any transfers the District Assemblies. Persons with Disability are also in some cases not represented on the Disability Fund Management

Committee. Additionally, most of the Assemblies have not established the Disability Fund Management Committee to oversee the opening and management of the DDFA.

SEND–Ghana is of the opinion that the current situation will not improve the condition of persons with disability as is intended by the fund.

The organization has therefore organized a regional dialogue with key stakeholders to discuss the 3% share of the DACF for PWD’s especially as regards transparency, accountability issues and process of account opening for the fund.

The interface meeting was held on July 26, 2011 at the Regional Coordinating Council Conference Room of the Northern Region. It brought together representatives from all the 16 districts and regional stakeholders in the Northern Region.

More information contact:

Siapha Kamara for

CEO

0208112322

0302-716860

siapha@yahoo.com