The Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, has criticised the former administration led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, accusing it of leaving behind a fragile and under-resourced local governance system.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, April 20, Mr Ibrahim said the current government inherited a decentralisation framework that was ineffective due to inadequate funding, which undermined the ability of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to deliver services and implement development projects.
“The government of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama inherited in 2025 a dysfunctional local governance sector and decentralisation structure, occasioned by lack of adequate resources for the MMDAs to perform,” he stated.
He explained that the situation hampered the assemblies’ capacity to fulfil their statutory responsibilities, affecting service delivery and infrastructure development nationwide.
Mr Ibrahim noted that concerns about the state of the sector had been raised previously. “This was highly and fervently voiced out by the former administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund,” he said.
He accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration of failing to prioritise decentralisation, particularly in the management of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF). “As a party, the New Patriotic Party… did not take decentralisation seriously,” he remarked.
According to him, the DACF was not consistently disbursed to the assemblies. “The District Assemblies Common Fund was not fully forthcoming. It was not regular. It was very erratic,” he said, adding that less than 50 per cent of the fund was transferred directly to the MMDAs over nearly seven years.
He further alleged that the previous government failed to issue operational guidelines for the use of the fund beyond its first year in office. “They only issued guidelines for the first year, 2017, and stopped,” he said, describing this as a breach of the Local Governance Act. “This is what controls the internal system and ensures the proper use of the money,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Ibrahim outlined new measures to strengthen accountability and sanitation management at the local level. He announced that motorbikes have been procured for sanitation officers, who will patrol communities as “sanitation ambassadors” to monitor environmental conditions.
“Motorbikes have been bought, youth have been recruited… they will be patrolling all the principal ceremonial streets,” he said.
He also revealed plans for dedicated phone lines and a call centre to enable the public to report sanitation concerns. “When you see any filthy area, you call the call centre, and that one will be registered,” he explained, noting that the system is designed to reduce human interference and improve transparency.
“It’s not about my interest… the human factor is going to be taken out,” he said, adding that local officials will be assessed based on observable sanitation conditions in their jurisdictions. “You will see the poor nature of sanitation in your area… it is that evidence that will be used to assess performance,” he concluded.
Leave a Reply