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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Mobilising revenue for district development: The dilemma of local governments, district assemblies, in Ghana
| Panel |
26. Decentralising power and natural resource control: responses and perspectives
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| Paper ID | 496 |
| Author(s) |
Owusu, George
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | Finance has been identified as one of the major problems facing most local governments in Africa – local governments, District Assemblies, in Ghana are not exception. Many analysts have identified inadequate finance as the single major reason why many District Assemblies have not made significant impact on the development of their districts. While there have been numerous calls for the District Assemblies to increase their internally-generated revenue, little has been said about the dilemma facing the Assemblies with regard to revenue mobilisation. This article highlights the dilemma faced by District Assemblies with the case study of a District Assembly in the Central Region. The article notes that the lack of visible development in many communities has resulted in the increasing reluctance of local people to contribute to the financial resource base of the District Assembly. The Assembly under such a situation is under-resourced financially and unable to implement more development projects. This goes to reinforce the characterisation of the District Assembly as unresponsive to the needs of local people. The article argues that this situation is gradually eroding the enthusiasm towards decentralisation and the key objectives of the programme in the study district. The article concludes that breaking this cycle would require the active support of the District Assemblies by central government. Central government support of the Assemblies financially implies enhancing participation and making them more responsive to the needs of their districts. |
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