No Common funds for delaying assemblies

Wa, Jan. 20 GNA - The District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) Secretariat would no longer transfer any funds to Districts that did not send their financial returns and supplementary budgets on schedule. Mr Emmanuel Danso, Public Relations Officer for the Secretariat, announced this at Wa on Monday during a regional forum on the impact of the Fund on the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.
The forum, which was organised by National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), DACF and the Netherlands Development Cooperation, attracted about 50 participants made up of District Chief Executives, District Coordinating Directors, District Planning and Finance Officers, Media Personnel, and representatives from the public and private sectors.
Mr Danso said late submission of financial returns, supplementary budgets and other vital information were responsible for the delay in the release the funds.
He said the Zabzugu-Tatale District received its share of the fund for third quarter of 2003 about two weeks ago because of late submission of financial returns.
"We shall be compelled to mete out the same measures to defaulting Assemblies just like we did to the Zabzugu-Tatale Assembly if they do not comply with our directives", Mr Danso warned.
Mr Sam Ocran, Programme Officer for the Netherlands Development Cooperation said despite the extensive consultation that went into the preparation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy and the involvement of stakeholders, knowledge about the document was woefully inadequate. He, therefore, called on District Assemblies to use guidelines of the National Development Planning Commission as their basis for district level planning.
"The guidelines require the active participation of all stakeholders at the various levels in planning, implementation and monitoring of district development activities" he said. Mr Sahanun Mogtari, Upper West Regional Minister, said since the inception of DACF development at the grassroots levels had increased tremendously.
He, however, expressed regret that most of the assemblies had become too dependent on the DACF, having neglected their traditional source of funding.
Mr Mogtari appealed to various Assemblies to step up their income generating activities to be able to undertake many development projects.