The Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, has laid out an uncompromising vision for local governance immediately after assuming office as Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, telling Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies that Ghana’s cities cannot be fixed until they collect the revenues the law already entitles them to raise.
Hon Ayariga was sworn in alongside Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings on Saturday, August 29, 2026, at a ceremony where President John Dramani Mahama administered the Oath of Office, Oath of Secrecy and Oath of Allegiance to both ministers following their unanimous approval by Parliament.
In his first remarks as minister, Hon Ayariga issued a direct challenge to assemblies across the country, arguing that world-class cities are built on revenue collection rather than central government transfers.
Where the World’s Beautiful Cities Got Their Money
Hon Mahama Ayariga opened with a comparison designed to puncture what he views as a common illusion about how developed cities fund their infrastructure.
He pointed to Singapore’s parks and driveways, and to the development of New York and London, arguing that the money behind those cities came from the same categories of local revenue Ghanaian law already grants to assemblies.
“Those cities there rely essentially on the same revenue sources that the law says you should also utilize to develop your space. You haven’t collected those revenues and yet you expect to be able to fix those spaces. It’s not possible. It doesn’t work that way.”
Hon. Mahama Ayariga, Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs
He argued that assemblies cannot expect central government to solve their funding problems for them, rejecting the idea that Ghana’s cities should function as passive recipients of whatever the Finance Ministry collects at the ports or whatever royalties trickle down from mining.
“If you have millions of avenues for making money to keep the city clean and you don’t go for those ones, or you are not accountable in going for those ones, we can never have cities that are functioning well”.
Hon. Mahama Ayariga, Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs
Cleaning a City Is “the Most Basic Thing”
Hon Ayariga framed basic urban services in stark, almost minimal terms, arguing that citizens are asking for very little when they demand clean streets, working drains and passable roads. “Cleaning a city is not rocket science,” he said. “Cleaning a city is the most basic thing that you can do for the citizens of that city.”
He said keeping a city neat represents the floor, not the ceiling, of what any government owes the people it serves, and that residents demanding drains and good roads are not making excessive requests.
He committed to pursuing the same objective the President had set for him. “I will do exactly what the president said to make the cities work, to make the assemblies work, to make sure that they fix the roads, they fix the drains,” he said, tying his personal mandate directly to President Mahama’s charge that decentralisation must become meaningful to ordinary citizens.
Accountability Running in Both Directions
Hon Ayariga was explicit that his accountability drive would not fall on assemblies alone. He said he intends to hold every Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive accountable for performing their duties to citizens, describing this as an unwavering commitment.
But he paired that expectation with an equal demand on residents themselves, invoking the biblical principle of giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. “The mayor is the Caesar,” he said. “We the residents in the cities must also live up to our responsibility.”
He said the city will be fixed, but fixed specifically with the resources of the residents and inhabitants who live there, reinforcing his central argument that sustainable urban improvement depends on local revenue rather than external subsidy.
A Call for Broad Institutional Support
Hon Mahama Ayariga appealed for cooperation well beyond the assemblies themselves, naming the media, civil society, religious groups and traditional authorities as partners whose support he will need to turn the sector around.
He placed particular emphasis on traditional authorities and land-owning families, whose cooperation he said is essential to the kind of transformation he has in mind. He closed by framing the stakes in national terms, arguing that Ghana possesses the capacity to become a continental example and compete with any country in the world.
“We are a nation of excellence. Unfortunately, we’ve backslided, and we’ve become a pitiable nation, and everybody is complaining and we don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.”
Hon. Mahama Ayariga, Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs
Hon Mahama Ayariga’s appointment places him at the centre of decentralisation, local government administration, chieftaincy affairs and engagement with traditional and religious institutions, following his unanimous parliamentary approval on Friday, August 27.
President Mahama, in his charge to the new minister, stressed that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies must become more accountable, financially disciplined and responsive to community needs, a directive Ayariga’s opening remarks appeared designed to answer directly and without qualification.
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