Deputy Ranking Member on the Local Government Committee in parliament, Benjamin Kpodo, has disclosed that the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) has been rendered “impotent” by the Akufo-Addo led administration.
According to him, the situation isn’t a case where the DACF is “refusing” to give money to the districts. Mr Kpodo revealed that government has “persistently” deprived the DACF the needed fund for the discharge of its “constitutionally mandated” duties.
Addressing the press today, October 21, 2021, on delays in the release of the common fund, Mr Kpodo noted that amounts due to the DACF were “underprovided” for and owed to the fund for 2017 and 2018.
The Ho legislator, however, asserted that the debt was “partly settled” in 2020 with monies “borrowed” during the COVID-19 intervention period. Mr Kpodo explained that an amount of “GHC 144 million” was applied for settlement.
“Indeed, the DACF is simply not working today, having been rendered impotent. The monies due to the fund have not been given to the fund to enable it to carry out its mandate as abundantly outlined by the constitution and the relevant Act”.
Mr Benjamin Kpodo
Government, Mr Kpodo expressed, had originally introduced the “earmarked funds capping and realignment Act”. Under this Act, he revealed that government had listed the common fund as funds that should be capped to “retain” funds for the “central government’s” spending.
Following this, Mr Kpodo indicated that the ministry of finance is refusing to “properly comply” with the directives of the apex court after its ruling on a case.
“Incomes from petroleum resources were already excluded from total revenues from which DACF monies could be computed. In June 2019, the Supreme Court in the case of Benjamin Kpodo and Richard Quashigah versus Attorney General ruled that as a constitutional creation, the DACF could not be capped. And that the receipts from the petroleum sources should be included in the total revenues when computing funds due to the DACF”.
Mr Benjamin Kpodo
Minority demands monies paid to DACF
Demanding payment of monies into the fund, Mr Kpodo asserted that the ministry of finance deducts certain amounts from the total revenue before computing the 5% of the balance for the DACF. He alleged that these revenues are “ceded to GNPC and GRA”.
“These are also agencies of state just like other MMDAs. So, their budgetary allocation should be made after the constitutional 5% is provided for, for the DACF. We consider this practice as a ploy to reduce the amount due to the DACF. We ask the ministry of finance to provide the constitutional 5% of total revenues to DACF before making budgetary allocations to all MMDAs”.
Mr Benjamin Kpodo
According to Mr Kpodo, the local governance Act, “Act 963 of 2016”, suggests that monies accruing to the District Assemblies Common Fund shall be distributed among all the districts on the basis of a formula approved by parliament.
He insisted that the Act “reiterates” the constitutional provisions and gives greater details of how the constitutional provision should be implemented.
“Further to these provisions, the supreme court of Ghana has given orders as to what constitutes total revenue of Ghana and what monies is to be paid into the fund. The purpose of this press conference is to highlight and to reveal… the malfunctional status of District Assemblies Common Fund. And the suspected misapplication of the constitutionally created fund by the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia”.
Mr Benjamin Kpodo
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