Decentralisation is a process not an event - Ahwoi

Minimum wage to determine fine levels?

Majority, Minority to strike deal on political parties' funding

Accra (Greater Accra), 14^th December 99

Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development on Monday told a forum that the country's decentralisation programme is a process and not an event.

"We must, therefore, not throw up our hands in despair when we meet obstacles. Ours is to devise strategies to overcome those obstacles".

Mr. Ahwoi said the trends in local government reforms and decentralisation in Ghana today are towards democratic local government structures and accountable systems of public administration that will meet the developmental needs of the people.

The Minister was presenting a paper on "Financing the decentralisation programme: District assemblies and sub-structures as partners in governance" at the 11th Speaker's breakfast forum at Parliament House in Accra.

Mr Ahwoi said there have been very positive achievements, but a lot needs to be done.

Mr Ahwoi said the thrust of Ghana's policy over the last 10 years, has been to promote popular participation by shifting the processes of governance from command to consultation and by devolving power, competence and resources to the district level.

He said the country's decentralisation programme must, however, be located within the world-wide movement towards greater participation of citizens in decision-making.

He told the forum that the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) is working on a revised Charter on Local Government and decentralisation.

At the Commonwealth level, Mr Ahwoi said the conference of heads of government and ministers (CHOGM) is committed to democratisation, decentralisation and local good governance.

The Minister mentioned some of the main features of the decentralisation programme as re-demarcation of districts to create more manageable and viable local government units and establishment of district assemblies as non-partisan local government bodies.

Other features are the empowerment of the assemblies as legislative, administrative, development planning, service delivery, budgeting and rating authorities.

Mr Ahwoi told the forum that the decentralisation programme has chalked very significant successes which are best seen in the five component areas forming the focal points of the implementation strategy.

These are political, administrative and fiscal decentralisation, decentralised planning and decentralised management of public/private partnerships.

The Minister said under political decentralisation, the major issue has been that of unsettled district boundaries leading to several disputes about local government boundaries.

He said at the community level, these have extended to disputes over boundaries of electoral areas and even units.

Closely related to this trend, he said, are the demands for the creation of new districts.

"At the last count, 35 such demands are being pursued and to avoid a situation where every constituency or even every town wants to become a district, we may want to put a cap on the maximum number of districts that the country and its economy can accommodate.

"And perhaps tie its periodic review to major national demographic exercises such as the national census", he added.

Mr Ahwoi said another trend is the debate over the 'non-partisan' nature of a local government system subsisting under a partisan central government.

He said the dilemma is that the partisan central government has to implement a significant part of its manifesto, plans and programmes through the non-partisan district assemblies as a result of the decentralised planning system and the Common Fund mechanism.

He said where an assembly turns out to be 'hostile', the central government may have problems implementing its programmes.

The Minister observed that the case for a non-partisan local government system has been made that it is a constitutional provision which the National Democratic government (NDC) government is not minded to amend.

It is also said that the issues of macro-economic policy, strategic alliances, foreign affairs, defence and others, which divide political parties ideologically, are the very issues which have been made "no go" areas for district assemblies.

Other arguments are that the absence of party politics in the district assemblies compels them to focus more on developmental issues rather than partisan interests.

He said in practice, issues of party politics in the assemblies mainly arise when it comes to the approval of the district chief executive and election of the presiding member.

Mr Ahwoi said there is also the controversy over the mode of appointment of DCEs.

He said the current constitutional provisions recognise the difficulty inherent in implementing a programme of decentralisation within a unitary state and therefore makes the DCE accountable to both the district assembly and the central government, represented by the President.

"Yet some have criticised this as undemocratic and argued for a 'wholly elected' DCE. I agree this is the democratic ideal.

"I have, however, elsewhere argued in favour of the current position that Ghanaians, in a free and fair referendum, adopted the Constitution, which contains the present procedure for appointing DCEs.

"It is our duty to uphold and defend that Constitution", he stressed.

The Minister explained that the decentralised development planning system combined with the Common Fund mechanism, compels the central government to implement some of its policies and programmes through the district assemblies.

"If the DCE, who is the head of the executive arm of government is not loyal to the central government of the day, he or she can work to undermine its policies and programmes.

"The decentralisation within the framework of a unitary state requires a delicate arrangement that will ensure the cohesion of the nation-state.

"The presence of the DCE as the President's representative in the assembly, is to serve as a reminder at all times of this fact", Mr Ahwoi said.

Mr Ahwoi emphasised that "those who advocate a change in the present system are advised to make it a part of their election manifesto so that if they are able to win the elections, they effect the change as the NDC government is not about to initiate such a change".

GRi

Return to top

Accra (Greater Accra), 14^th December 99

The Fines (Penalty Units) Bill which provides a method under which fines in legislation can be dealt with in a manner without indicating the actual amounts in currency in the legislation was on Monday read a second time in Parliament.

Dr Obed Asamoah, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, explained that instead of stating actual currency amounts in enactment, fines in enactments should be stated as consisting of a penalty unit or a number of penalty units.

A unit is then given a currency value by law and that the value of a unit may be amended from time to time by a Legislative Instrument.

He pointed out that the admirable advantage of "this arrangement is that it will eliminate constant amendment of specific sums of money stated in enactments as fines that often arise from fluctuation in currency value".

The Attorney General stated that the idea of stating "these pecuniary provisions in units or levels" has been in operation for sometime in a number of Commonwealth countries including the United Kingdom.

He therefore hoped its adoption in Ghana would be an improvement on the writing of legislation.

In the Report of the Select Committee on Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs read by its Chairman, Mr George Buadi, Member of Parliament for Amenfi East, the Committee stressed the need for the Bill to define a basis to determine the currency value of one penalty unit.

"It was decided to use the minimum wage as the basis because with that as a basis, one can determine how much the minimum wage earner can be asked to pay as a minimum fine".

On that basis, the committee hoped that a minimum wage earner should be able to part with one-third of his pay as a fine for a liability incurred under the law.

Nana Akufo Addo, the ranking Member, and a handful of members, supported the Bill and asked the House to ensure its passage into law.

In his view, Mr Charles Omar Nyanor, (NPP-Upper Denkyira), said "the Bill is alright as it stands, but when critically and carefully examined, it contains a lot of lapses".

Mr Nyanor queried whether the Minister would have to come back to the House to have the "Law" reviewed anytime there is a salary increase.

He pointed out that the ordinary worker would be "more hurt" whenever a fine is imposed on him, because as "the Bill stipulates, he will have to part with one-third of his salary".

Mr. Nyanor said if this is so, then the "mischief" of the Bill is still there.

Mr Joseph Darko-Mensah, (NPP-Okai Koi North), expressed concern about the crowded nature of the country's prisons.

He pointed out that since the government is not willing to release funds to improve the prisons, judges must use fines as an alternative means of punishing criminals, instead of sending them to the already crowded prisons to worsen the situations there.

Winding up, Dr Asamoah urged members to give their blessings to the Bill to ensure its passage into Law.

Four out of other five papers were also laid before the House.

These included the Report from the Finance Committee on the Credit Agreement between Ghana and the United States Exim Bank for 13.4 million dollars for the supply of Fire Trucks, Spares and Services for the Ghana National Fire Service.

The Report on the Agreement between Ghana and Spain and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Bank, for a Mixed Credit Facility of 10 million dollars for the purchase of fire fighting equipment and vehicles for the Ghana National Fire Service.

The third paper was a Report on a loan Agreement between the Republic of Ghana and the Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaubau (KFW) of the Federal Republic of Germany for 76 million Deutsche Marks to finance the rehabilitation of the Tema-Sogakope Road.

The fourth paper was on the Report on Environment, Science and Technology on the International Convention on Oil Pollution, Preparedness, Responses and Co-operation 1990.

The fifth paper, the Report from the Committee on Roads and Transport on the 1998 Annual Report of the Ghana Road Fund, was deferred.

GRi

Return to top

Accra (Greater Accra) 14 Dec. '99

The Minority group in Parliament on Monday won a compromise from the majority to dialogue on the framework for financing political parties after failing to secure a legislation on it.

An amendment to the Political Parties Bill in the name of Dr. Kofi Apraku, Minority Finance spokesman, seeking to set up a National Political Parties Fund, had to be withdrawn to make way for the compromise.

He said since the principle of the funding of political parties was not defeated by the house but that disagreements had generated from modalities for the fund, "another look will enrich it".

Dr Apraku expressed the hope that further consultations on the matter "will go a long way to satisfy both sides in our bid to strengthen the democratic process".

Extending the compromise hand, Dr Obed Asamoah, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said the present economic problems facing the country would not allow the government to make the necessary contributions to support the proposed fund.

He agreed that a more acceptable scheme could be considered in due course. He disagreed with the amendment proposal, which was to benefit "only parties that can secure five per cent of vote cast at the last parliamentary elections".

The principle behind the proposal "is against the principle of equity and will shut the door to small and new political parties, he said.

" This whole amendment is prone to abuse; we need to sit down and discuss matters in detail."

Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, NPP-Yendi, speaking for the amendment, called on the National Democratic Congress whose motto is "Always for people" Always for development" to support the setting up of the fund, because the people of Ghana are for the proposal.

He said every political party would one day need the assistance of the proposed fund and therefore it should not be seen as the cry of the minority for help.

Opposing it, Mr Moses Mabengba, NDC-Saboba, said the representation of political parties on the proposed panel of trustees for the fund was unrealistic.

Mr Evans Kodjo Ahorsey, NDC-Ayensuano, said politics is a form of business in which anybody wanting to take part should be prepared for its intrigues.

He said; "weak pockets will not win power" and therefore urged politicians to whip up their organizational skills to fit properly into the political game.

On a point of order, Paapa Owusu Ankomah, Minority Communications spokesman said it was not like the NPP was cash strapped and could therefore not take part in the next election without state funding.

Mr Modestus Ahiable, NDC, Ketu North, pointed out that the amendment proposal was "fine but the time is not ripe for it".

Mr Freddie Blay, Second Deputy Speaker, said "by such a fund, activities of political parties will become transparent.

"We all know that some money come to the parties from somewhere anyway but such a fund would help parties to account properly to all concerned."

Mr J.H. Mensah, Minority Leader, said the arguments presented by some of the majority members, suggested that the state has supported parties through allocation of free radio and Television air time.

The time has come for the institutionalization of the support and private business concerns and individuals should never be allowed to hold the political process to ransom by allowing them to fund the parties alone, he said.

GRi../