Deputy Minister urges Parliament to scrap DACF

Mr. Justice Samuel Adjei, the Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister on Thursday urged the Legislature to scrap the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).

He observed that the DACF had made most of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) reluctant and redundant in finding innovative ways of generating funds locally to spearhead development.

Mr. Adjei made the call at a stakeholders' meeting in Sunyani organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), a Non-Governmental Organisation.

The meeting was aimed at sensitizing the general public on the outcome of a project the NGO, with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) implemented in Kintampo South District, Techiman, Sunyani and Berekum Municipalities in the Region.

Dubbed “enhancing civil society capacity to engage MMDAs to promote transparency, accountability and efficient service delivery at the local level,” the 18-month project was also aimed at empowering the Assemblies to mobilize enough revenue locally for development.

Mr. Adjei noted that the idea for the establishment of the DACF was to supplement local revenue generation, and broaden the scope of funds available to the MMDAs to enable them to undertake major development programmes.

But, he regretted that most of the MMDAs had virtually depended on the DACF for development to the neglect of the mobilization of local funds.

The Deputy Regional Minister was of the view that if the DAFC was scratched, it would compel the MMDAs to be proactive enough and develop new strategies for local revenue mobilization.

Mr. Adjei advised tax payers to ensure the prompt and regular payment of their taxes, to position them strongly to demand accountability from the Assemblies.

Ms Sandra Arthur, Programmes Officer of the GACC said the project identified consistent delays in the release of the DACF and the over-reliance on it for development which therefore hindered the optimal operations of the Assemblies.

According to Article 252 (2) of the 1992 Constitution and the DACF Act 1993, Act 455, Parliament is mandated to make provision for the allocation of not less than five per cent (5%) of the total national revenue to the DACF for the implementation of development programmes in the MMDAs.

Section Seven (a) of the Act further requires the Administrator of the DACF to propose annually for the approval of Parliament, a formula for sharing the Common Fund to the Assemblies.