A Deputy Minister-designate for Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, Mr. O. B. Amoah has stated that the time has come for the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to be adequately resourced for them to effectively carry out their mandate.
One of ways to make the assemblies more resourceful, he noted, will the introduction of a financial bill, which when passed into an Act, will help the assemblies to raise their own resources from financial institutions for development.
The Act, he added, will empower the local assemblies to become independent to freely enter the open market to look for funds to finance their numerous programmes and activities other than relying solely on the usual District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and their Internally Generated Funds (IGF).
“This financial bill (Act) will empower the assemblies to find monies to be able to carry out their programmes. The assemblies need a lot of money to carry out their functions”, he noted.
Mr. O. B. Amoah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akuapem South, proffered these when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Wednesday for vetting to be appointed as a deputy minister.
The nominee exhibited candour, knowledge and understanding of the country’s local governance system.
President Nana Akufo-Addo re-nominated Mr O. B. Amoah to the Local Government Ministry as a deputy minister after being at same position for the last four years.
Prior to making the suggestions, the Akuapem South lawmaker had given overview of how most of the local assemblies in the country were struggling to fund their programmes and activities.
For instance, he said the main source of revenue for all the local assemblies is the District Assemblies Common Fund, which they use to finance major projects like road construction, street lighting, construction of drainage systems among others. Another, he noted, is internally generated funds (IGF).
These monies, Mr O. B. Amoah pointed out, have never been enough, a situation he said, makes it so difficult for most of the assemblies to complete the major projects they initiate.
However, with the introduction of a financial law, the difficulties the assemblies face will become a thing of the past since they would be empowered to raise more money to finance their programmes and activities.
