TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTIONa. Introduction pages.

a (i) Research Background 1 a (ii) Research Problem 2 a (iii) Research Purpose 3b. Research objectives 4

c. Research Question 5

d. Literature Review 6

e. Proposed Research Methodology 7

f. Significance of Research 8

g. Research Limitation 9

h. Project Schedule 10

i. Chapter outline 11

j. References 12k. Appendix A 13

RESEARCH BACKGROUND

Local government is the lowest tier of government. It isclosest to citizens and the community and therefore known as‘local’. It has an extremely important role to play in asociety as an agent of change and development (Alam, andNickson, 2006). According to the second Global Report onDecentralization and Local Democracy, (GOLD, 2010), Localgovernments around the world today play a key role infacilitating development and improving living standards. Theyoperate in an increasingly open and responsive manner as morerobust governance mechanisms and civil society develop evenwhere they have historically been weak. Today they areconsidered by many central governments to be importantpartners in dealing with a range of public policy issues andfunctions, including building more efficient and equitablesocial service systems and providing significant portions ofkey infrastructure that supports economic development andimproves the quality of life. Despite this benefit, localauthorities are under sourced making it almost impossible forthem to carry out their functions effectively. A report fromthe Transylvanian Review of Administration Sciences, 2012state that “local government in Slovenia are resourced enoughto meet their actual cost and current expenditure but arefaced with lack of fund in performing their statutory taskssuch as construction of roads, schools etc and for exercisingtheir competences in Slovenia”. This assertion is not too far from that of Africans, as arecent study in Nigeria also found that despite the increasein the total amount of funds available to local government inNigeria since early 1990s, its economic and financial profileis still very poor, relative to the development programme itis expected to carry out”. (Arowolo, 2009; Kamla-Raj, 2010).Also, Hussein (2004) asserts that decentralization initiativesin Malawi are still pursued in the context of a centralized

financial system. Overall, it appears that central governmenthas been more willing to share its responsibilities with localgovernment than to share its revenue. In Ghana, even though local governments have other sources ofincome such as ceded revenue and internally generated fund, itis woefully inadequate given the extensive responsibilitiesdecentralized to district assemblies. So, in an attempt toenhance financial autonomy of local authorities led to theintroduction of the district assembly common fund. TheDistrict Assemblies’ Common Fund (DACF) is a pool of resourcescreated under Article 252 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana.It is a minimum of 5% of the national revenue set aside to beshared among all District Assemblies in Ghana with a formulaapproved by Parliament. The fund is a Development Fund whichenables the use of the nation’s wealth throughout Ghana to thebenefit of all citizens (commonfund.gov.gh). It is a wellknown fact that, before the inception of the DistrictAssemblies’ Common Fund, many district assemblies’ in Ghanacould not raised enough revenues or monies to meet theirrecurrent expenditure, how much more to carry outdevelopmental projects. And that, the common fund has made animpact especially in the rural areas, because without thecommon fund most developmental projects such as constructionof hospitals, markets, classrooms etc- on-going and completedwould not have been initiated at all. It is for this reason Iseek to examine the impact of the common fund on localgovernment administration, using Akuapem- North as a casestudy.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

Many local level developments have failed because of lack ofappropriate policy and Legislative changes to accompany thetransfer of financial resources to local levels of governmentto ensure that they execute the functions legally devolved tothem (Conyers, 1990: 3-4). In Ghana, a great difficulty in

local level development has been due to the lack of sufficientfund to carry out development tasks at the district level.Adequate financial resources are essential for effectiveexecution of development projects. However, impeccabledistrict development plans may be, very little progress can beachieved with an inadequate financial provision. Often themeasures put in place to affect this transfer do not grant thelocal government units sufficient control over the financialresources that they need to perform functions efficiently(Ayee, 1995). Revenues from the internal sources of theAssemblies are woefully inadequate to address thedevelopmental problem in the Akuapem- North District. Beforethe introduction of District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), theAkuapem-North District Assembly was relying heavily on suchinternally generated revenue as basic rate, property rate,special rate, fees, licenses and others. Other sources of therevenue of the Assembly were grant in – aid and ceded revenue.However, the grants were irregular and the system was oftencriticized as having no rational sharing basis (Ayee, 1995).The bad financial position of the Assembly prevented it fromproviding social and economic needs of the people effectively(Ayee, 1995: 292-306). The Akuapem-North District was established in 1988 byLegislative Instrument (LI) 1430. Until now it has beenassigned with more expenditure functions than can be financedby the revenue sources allocated to them. This mismatch offunctions and finances, referred to as vertical imbalancemeans a continued dependence of District Assemblies ontransfers from the centre (Ayee, 1995: 292). However, the introduction of the District Assemblies’ CommonFund (D.A.C.F.) in 1994 as a strategy to enhance financialautonomy and effective local government administration came asa big relief to the District Assemblies. For instance, between1994 and 2005, the government had released a total of 3.32trillion old Ghana cedis under the DACF to District Assembliesfor their programmes (Gyamfi, 2007: 15) and cumulativereleases into the Common Fund since its inception from 1994 todate stands at GHC1, 365,157,839.20 (2010, District AssemblyAnnual Report). Although, the Assembly has been able to use the fund toprovide a number of development projects, its utilization andmanagement reveal high level mismanagement of the fund

(Ayee,1995). This situation undermines the effort of theAssembly to provide efficient service delivery to the peoplein the local areas. Moreover, it could be said that allocations of the fund to theAssembly have undermined the effective collection ofAssembly‘s internally generated fund instead of serving as amotivating factor. As a result of limited tax revenue due topoverty and general distrust by the local people, theAssembly now relies on the common fund rather than their ownresources. Besides, the cost of collecting the revenue isfound to be high. This is because the number of revenuecollectors in the district is big and, therefore, theirsalaries and allowances and that of the other staff take a bigchunk of the internally generated fund. According to theDistrict Financial Officer the number of permanent and casualcollectors in the district is 77. This has put a lot ofpressure on the Common Fund to meet the ever increasing needsof the majority of residents, especially the rural poor in thedistrict. An effective mobilization of the local revenue iscrucial as it can complement the common fund to bring moredevelopment to the rural areas thereby accelerating thepoverty reduction efforts of the Assembly (Ayee, 1996:94).Furthermore, most of the development projects executed underthe District Assemblies Common Fund have been poorly done andthis undermines the sustainability of these projects to reducepoverty in the District. There have been a number of reportedcases of contractors using low quality materials for commonfund projects. Apart from the short span of such projects,they put pressure on the Assembly‘s meager resources becauseit has to undertake regular maintenance of these completedprojects. Besides, the rural poor have not been involved inthe design and implementation of these projects that affecttheir very lives. There is very little knowledge among thecommunity members about the guidelines, disbursements of thefund, impeding their ability to demand accountability from theauthorities in charge of the disbursement of the Common Fundin the district Finally, in a bid to expand economies and create jobs in therural areas the Assembly has been directed to spend 20 percentof its common fund allocations to be distributed among theindividuals for income generation activities to improve theincomes of the local population (Botchie, 2000). But this has

been poorly implemented because the criteria for selectingbeneficiaries may be influenced by political considerationsand needs to be examined.

RESEARCH PURPOSE

The purpose for undertaking this research is to examine theimpact of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund in 1994 by the

government as a legislative instrument meant to enhancefinancial autonomy and effective local governmentadministration in Ghana. This researcher seeks to examine theimpacts of the common fund after and before its introductionon the life of the people in the district, that is, howdevelopmental projects funded by the District Assemblies’Common Fund has impacted the standard of living and othersocio- economic activities of the people in the Akuapem-NorthDistrict.Even though, there are other sources of funding to districtassemblies’ but the main focus of the research will be basedon the common fund since, its more reliable source of fundingand a common source of funding for all district assemblies’ inGhana.Furthermore, the study focuses on common fund because, it is atransfer of funds from the central government to the localgovernment which constitute 7.5 percent of all monies accruedto government, hence the need to examine it usage and benefitsto the people at the district level.Also, the research focused on Akuapem-North District in theEastern region of Ghana because, it is one of the oldestdistricts established in 1988 under Legislative Instrument(LI) 1430 with a population of about 230 persons with Akropongas its capital. Even though, the district is one of the oldestit is still one of the deprived districts in the region thatis undergoing a great development to catch up with otherdistrict in the region. The last but not the least is because, that is our districtand every activities or projects undertaken have a lot ofimpact on my standard of living.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The general objective of the study is to assess the impact ofthe district assemblies’ common fund on local governmentadministration. The specific objectives of the study includethe following;

1. To examine the effects of District Assembly Common Fundon the internally generated revenue.

2. To find out the level of local involvement in theselection and implementation of the common fund projects.

3. To what extent have the projects provided under theDistrict Assembly Common Fund improved the livingconditions of the people?

RESEACH QUESTIONS

1. What are the effects of the district assembly common fundon internally generated fund?

2. What is the level of local involvement in the selectionand implementation of the common fund projects?

3. What improvement has the common fund had on the livingstandards of the people within the district?

LITERATURE REVIEW

This study reviews literature on fiscal decentralisation andlinks it to local government concept in Ghana. However,particular reference was placed on Ghana’s District Assembliesand how decentralisation and fiscal decentralisation concept(Local Government Financing) is practiced in Ghana. The study made use of data or materials such as “Ghana,Outlines of the decentralization plan of the ProvisionalNational Defence Council (PNDC), Accra: Information ServiceDepartment, 1982, pp2-33, also UK Local GovernmentInternational Bureau et al, and S.A Nkrumah(ed), Financingdistrict development and administration under a decentralisedframework, report on the Fifth Annual Workshop onDecentralization in Ghana,1992, in addition Ghana, The newlocal government system Accra: (2nd ed) Ministry of LocalGovernment and Rural Development,1996, pp 52-54, finally S.KAsibuo and J.K Nsarkoh, Financing local government in Ghana –Empirical studies of problems, Friedrich Ebert Foundationproject, 1994. These are different writers in the field ofdecentralisation, fiscal decentralisation and development.Also included is literature from local and local leveldevelopment.

Theories such as district assembly (Local Government),intergovernmental fiscal allocation (fiscal decentralisation),and decentralisation concepts have been explained in thisstudy.To begin with, there is no agreement on what the term localimplies. However, Uphoff (1986:10-12) has identified tenlevels of decision making activities ranging frominternational level to the level of individual level decisionmakers. Within this range, Uphoff distinguishes threedifferent local levels which are nested within one another.These local levels area: locality level, community level andgroup level (Andoh, 1967: 8). With this differentiation,attempts have been made at explaining what the term localconnotes. Uphoff (1992: 15) sees the term as referring to “ageographical area composed of a group of local governmentauthorities that generally share an economic base and areclose together enough to allow residents to commutes betweenthem for employment, recreational and retail shopping.”Furthermore, “local” is “where people have some possibility ofpersonal acquaintance, and usually some experience of workingtogether. Fekade (1994: 7) broaden the knowledge that “local” refers to“a spatial delineation of a limited size in which itsinhabitants share similar problems treats and constraints andresources. Inhabitants are routinely interlinked by commonidentity (language, history, culture, physical patterns suchas settlement, roads, shared service centres) and commonlyshared needs and appreciation of problems in a mobilisablepotential.” From these interpretations, the term “local space” for thepurposes of this study is defined as an area made up of fairlycohesive and bounded by social units (that is communities),which has some established patterns of communication, economicexchange and social interrelationships, with some perceptionsof common interest and some capacity for collective action. By this definition, the Districts in Ghana are considered aslocal level space. This is premised on the observation thatpeople within the districts have some acquaintance with eachother directly or indirectly through intermarriage, tradingrelations, religious festivals or participation in localgovernment activities.

Secondly, according to Shah (1994) fiscal decentralisationfocuses on the fundamental problem of allocating expenditureand revenue responsibilities among levels of government. Italso refers to the devolution of authority for public financesand the delivery of governments services from the national tosub-national levels (Tanzi, 1996). The conceptual framework offiscal decentralisation is well established, drawing largelyon the contributions by Stigler (1957), Musgrave (1959), Oates(1972) and Brennan and Buchanan (1980). The core logic isbased on the following: if growth and poverty issues are to betaken into account, one should be concerned about efficiency-supplying services up to the point at which, at the margin,the welfare benefit to society matches its cost (cited in Ebel& Yilmaz, 2002).Typically, fiscal decentralisation efforts begin with afundamental review of allocation responsibilities forexpenditures and revenues by level of government.Rationalising these responsibilities, combined withestablishing an inter-governmental transfer programme, is thefirst step towards creating a fiscal structure that can enablegovernments to properly fulfil their stabilisation,distribution and allocation functions (Shah, 1994). Lastly, decentralization is the transfer of power, resourcesand responsibilities to sub national units of government(World Bank, 1996). From the mid 1980, countries throughoutthe world began to experiment some form of decentralization(Conyer, 1990). By the mid-1990s, 80 percent of countries inthe developing world all with varying or different politicaldispensation were engaged in some form of decentralisation(Crook; Manor, 1998). Whether understood in an administrativesense (Rondinelli, 1983) decentralisation is seen as a policyframework in which public goods and services are providedprimarily through the revealed preferences of individuals bymarket mechanisms (Rondinelli, 1989). In an explicitdemocratizing function (Manor, 1999), decentralisation hasbecome one of the core components of political conditionalityin international development co-operation (World Bank, 1997).Across the political spectrum decentralisation has beenfavoured as a mechanism for improving accountability andtransparency and for improving state - society relations.Thus, strengthening local government has been justified not

only as a means of making government more efficient but as away of increasing democratic participation (Aryee, 1995). However, the study is done from two main theoretical orconceptual strands. These are the decentralisation concept;which is practiced in the form of District Assembly concept(Metropolitan, Municipal and District) in Ghana and the theoryof intergovernmental fiscal relation; which spells out thefiscal policies for the District Assemblies in Ghana.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The main objective of the research is to investigate theimpact of District Assemblies’ Common Fund on the localgovernment administration in Ghana particularly the Akuapem-North District Assembly. The research mainly uses qualitativeapproach which relies on in-depth interviews, focus groupdiscussion and direct observation. The analysis was purelybased on the reconstruction of the descriptions, which therespondents gave. Since the research used or employed direct observation, focusgroup discussion and an in-depth interview, it helped us tocoordinate our findings, to elaborate on our results and to

discover contradictions from the various respondents in orderto establish the reality of the problem. The study was basedon both primary and secondary sources of data which wasascertain from the Akuapem-North District and other sources. The primary data used for the research was obtained frominterviews (through questionnaire method) and fieldobservation with officials in the District Assembly, namely:District Coordinating Director, District Planning Officer,Budget Officer, and Finance Officer, Assembly members of theDistrict, Chairman of Unit Committee, Town and Area Councils.Also, focus group discussion was used to gather informationfrom chiefs, opinion leaders and a cross section of the peoplein some selected communities. In addition to the primary data, the secondary sources ofdata on the operations of District Assemblies and the CommonFund were obtained from the Ministry of Local Government andRural Development, District Assembly Common Fund Secretariat,National Development Planning Commission, data from theDistrict Assembly as well as data from books, journals andinternet were used.Other relevant secondary source of information was obtainedfrom the 1992 constitution of Ghana (chapter 20), the localgovernment Act 1993(Act 462) and the common fund Act 1193, Act445. The qualitative approaches used for the research such as focusgroup discussion, observation and description were used toobtain an information about how they perceived the commonfund, how the Assembly involves respondents in itsdistribution strategies, what form of financial assistance therespondents get from the Assembly, and the effects of thecommon fund projects on the living conditions of the people.Those involved in the focus group discussions were the chiefs,opinion leaders, assembly and unit committee members. Othersare farmers, teachers, traders, artisans in the district. With the direct observation, we went round the studycommunities to observe projects like markets, classroom blocks, KVIPs, clinics, that were undertaken by the Assembly underthe common fund, their locations and effects on the livingconditions of the people. In addition, formal questions (interview guide) were designedand written down for the respondents to provide answers. Itwas used for the elite class such as the District Chief

Executive, District Planning Officer, Finance Officer andothers. These questions seeks to ascertain the DistrictAssembly‘s development programmes, the utilization of theDistrict Assemblies Common Fund, development needs and effortsby the Assembly to address those needs.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH

The selection of this study stems from the fact thatdevelopment at the local level faces a lot of challengesbecause; most of the District Assemblies are poor in terms ofresources to meet the increasing responsibilities to deliverservices to the growing population. In order to address thisproblem the Government of Ghana has through thedecentralisation policy introduced the District AssemblyCommon Fund to enhance development at the local level ofadministration. However, the good intention of the fund isbeing undermined by some District Assemblies’ as a result ofpoor management and misplaced utilization of the fund. Sincethe common fund constitutes the major revenue to the districtassemblies and has great potential to improve lives as well associo-economic development, it is proper that research isconducted into the operations of the District Assemblies’ toascertain how they manage and utilize the fund to benefit thepeople within their catchment area.The study will be helpful to the following people; theDistrict Chief Executive, Budget and Planning Officers of theAkuapem-North District Assembly as to, judicious use of thecommon fund to improve the lives of the people and how tosolve problems facing the application and utilization of thefund.Also, Assemblymen and Members of Parliament (MP) and otheropinion leaders will benefit from the study. Thus, it willhelp them know more about the common fund and it usefulnessfor solving the financial and developmental needs of the

district. And to enable them suggest how best the common fundcould be used to solve developmental problems facing thedistrict. Again, the study will serve as a guide to other districtassemblies facing similar developmental problems as to howbest the common fund can be used to promote development.In addition, the study will reveal some problems facing theimplementation of the District Assemblies Common Fund Act, Act455 and suggest solutions which will go a long way to improvethe administration and implementation of the common fund.This will be helpful to the authorities such as theGovernment, Parliament, and all stakeholders (Policy Makers)to have a second look at the act and its implementation so asto make charges where necessary, for efficient administrationof the common fund.Finally, the study will serve as bases for future researchersto build unto what have been done by examining otherparameters in relation to the subject matter (Common Fund).

RESEARCH LIMITATION

There was countless number of challenges that faced theresearchers in their quest to uncover the impact of thedistrict assemblies’ common fund on local governmentadministration in Ghana. But for the purpose of this study,the major challenges will be discussed.

One major challenge was the collection of relevant data fromthe assembly. From the beginning staffs of the Akuapem-NorthDistrict Assembly were unwilling to assist us with relevantinformation for the study. It took us almost three weeks toexplain and persuade them (staffs) to accept thequestionnaires and also released the relevant documents on thestudy. Secondly, the researchers were faced with financialconstraints, thus the study area requires the researchers totravel from Accra to Akuapem-North almost every day in a weekhence the transportation cost was a problem. However, we gotfinancial support from some family members and friends, whichminimized the problem.There was also the problem of getting the people in each ofthe five selected communities together for the focus groupdiscussion, in other words, how to get the participants forthe focus group discussion. It took us several weeks torecruit them for the discussion. The researchers were able toovercome this challenge when the Assembly members of the studycommunities were approached to help. The solutions to theproblems enumerated therefore, helped to minimize the marginof errors the research work might have had.Finally, in view of the number of district assemblies and thelimited time within which to carry out this research, it wasimpossible to cover all the 216 district assemblies in Ghana.Therefore, the research was scaled down to the Akuapem-NorthDistrict Assembly to ensure in-depth analysis of the problem.

REFERENCE

Yaw-Nsiah, S. (1997). Fiscal Decentralization, District Assemblies CommonFund and Local Development in Ghana. MSc Thesis submitted to theBoard of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University ofScience and Technology.

Kokor, J. Y. & Kroés, G. (2000). Central Grants for Local Development ina Decentralized Planning System, Ghana.Spring Research Series 23. Dortmund: University of Dortmund.

Kessey, K. D. (1995). Financing Local Development in Ghana: Mobilizationand Management of Fiscal Resources inKumasi. Dortmund: SPRING Publications Kessey, K. D. (1995). Financing Local Government in Ghana: Mobilizationand Management of Fiscal Resources inKumasi Metropolis. SPRING Center, Dortmund: University ofDortmund, Germany.

Smoke, P. (2003), ―Decentralizat ion in Africa: Goals,Dimension, Myt hs and Challenges‖, Journal of Public Administration and Development, Vol. 23:7-16.

Parker, A and Serrano (2000), Promoting Good Governancethrough Social Funds andDecentralization. Social Protection Discussion Paper SeriesNo22, Washington DC WorldBank.

Musgrave, R (1959), The theory of Public Finance, New York McGrawhill.

Kessey, K. D (1995) ― Financing Local Development in Ghana,‘‘A Journal of Mobilizationand Management of Fiscal resources in Kumasi Metropolis. Vol 12, pp 1-12.

Hicks, U (1961) Development from Below: Local Government and Finance inDevelopmentCountries of the Commonwealth, Clarendon Press, Oxford

Ghana, Republic of, (1992), Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.Ghana PublishingCorporation, Tema. Ghana, Republic of (1993) Local Government Act (Act 462), GhanaPublishing Corporation,Tema. Ghana, Republic of, (1996), Ghana, New Local Government Systems.Ministry of LocalGovernment and Rural Development, Accra.

Boex, J ; Muga, M. T (2008), ― Determinants of Local FinanceManagement Performancein Tanzania.‖ Unpublished manuscript.

Bahl, R; Johannes F (1994), ―Fiscal decentralisation andintergovernmental transfer in lessdeveloped countries‖, in: The Journal of Federalism, 24(1) pp. 1-20.

Ayee, J.R.A (1992) ―Decentralisat ion and EffectiveGovernment; Africa Insight, Vol. 22,pp.49 – 56. Ayee, J.R.A. (1995) ―Financing Sub-national Governments inGhana: The case of theDistrict Assemblies Common Fund.‖ A Journal of Regional and federalStudies, Vol. 5,No. 3, pp.292 – 306.

APPENDIX A

PAPER ONE (1)

Article Reference Dick-Sagoe Christopher, (2012), “Fiscal Decentralisation as aSustainable Local

Development Tool in Ghana”, info, vol.14 ISSN: 1520-5509.

Research Problem/Research QuestionThe study seeks to examine the relationship between the fiscaldecentralization and Local Government in Ghana.

Research FrameworkConceptual framework

Research MethodsThe study used quantitative research approach specificallysurvey in data collection.

Result and Findings and DiscussionThe research stated that fiscal decentralisation enhances theoverall public sector responsiveness to public demand and,ultimately, to an improvement in the economic efficiency ofpublic economic activities by better linking resourceallocation with public preferences.

ConclusionThe study concluded that, fiscal decentralisation facilitatesrevenue mobilisation effort. That is, it gives the localpeople, through their District Assembly, the chance tomobilise internally generated revenues such as rates, fines,fees, land and licenses.

Gaps for Future ResearchFiscal decentralization and public sector performance

PAPER TWO (2)

Article Reference Adam Abdul Mumin, (2010),“District Assembly Common Fund andPoverty Reduction in Rural Ghana”.

Research Problem/Research QuestionThe study seeks to examine the utilisation of the DistrictAssembly Common Fund by Assemblies in Ghana towards ruralpoverty reduction and its challenges to reduce rural poverty.

Research FrameworkConceptual Framework

Research MethodThe study adopted qualitative type of research due to themulti- dimensional nature of poverty. Also, case study,focused group discussion and questionnaire were used to obtaininformation from the people in the communities, staff of theAssembly and some heads of the decentralized departments.

Result and Findings and DiscussionThe study revealed that, the Assembly Authorities does notconsult the people of the community in decision makingprocesses, hence the people have little knowledge as to whatthe common fund monies are used for.Also in terms of project selection, the Assembly does notinvolve the people of the community in the selection ofprojects, as result such projects are not patronized by thepeople.In addition, the Assembly lacks adequate capacity in servicedelivery and over reliance of central government transferwhich has hinder development in the area. Lastly, the study uncovered that, most projects provided inthe district under the common fund were not monitored as it

should in order to appraise them. But rather, members of theAssembly and artisans were use to monitor such projects andbecause such officials (assembly members and the localartisans) do not have the capacity to monitor and evaluatedevelopment projects. The result is that common fund projectsfast deteriorate forcing the Assembly to use its meagerresources to maintain them after one to two years of theircommissioning.

ConclusionThe study concludes that, to ensure efficient utilisation ofthe District Assembly Common Fund to effectively reducepoverty levels in the rural areas, there is the need to ensureincreased people‘s participation at the community level inpolicy making and implementation, regular capacity building,and the need for political and administrative commitment forjudicious use of the District Assembly Common Fund.

Gaps for Future ResearchDistrict Assembly Common Fund and Challenges facing itsimplementation in Ghana

PAPER THREE (3)

Article ReferenceSakyi Kojo Emmanuel, (2008), “Implementing decentralizedmanagement in Ghana: The experience of the Sekyere WestDistrict health administration”, info, vol.21 Iss: 4

Research Problem/Research QuestionThe study seeks to examine the barriers to the implementation of management decentralization of health services and programmes at district level in Ghana.

Research FrameworkConceptual framework

Research Method

A qualitative exploratory case study approach was used and Data collection involved in-depth interviews and group discussions.

Result and Findings and DiscussionThe findings are: transfer of authority for managementdecision making and planning was rarely operational atdistrict level; and control over financial and personneldecisions remained centralized. The paper identified lack ofstaff capacity, lack of commitment and inter-organizationalconflict between health managers and local governmentofficials as factors obstructing the implementation ofmanagement decentralization in the district.

ConclusionThe study concluded that, decentralized health servicemanagement within the district should take into account eachdistrict’s conditions and context, including issues ofcapacity, inter-organizational relationships, local politicsand geographical location.Also, there is the need for capacity building, awarenesscreation and education for all stakeholders about their rolein the newly decentralized health management framework.It added that, given the enormity of the problem of paucity ofcapacity to undertake new management responsibilities underdecentralization, the process of transferringresponsibilities, resource and control to lower level managersshould be gradual and incremental.

Gaps for Future ResearchThe impact of decentralized management in local governmentadministration