News:
Hon Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye
March 23, 2022
Ranking Member on Local Government and Rural Development, Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye is advocating for fiscal decentralisation for the Assemblies in Ghana as part of complementing the decentralisation the country has embarked on.
According to him recentralizing small fiscal regimes of the Assemblies is against the tenet of the Ghanaian Republican 1992 Constitution and principles of our local governance structure.
In an address with members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) he pointed out that government is supposed to give five (5) percent of total revenue to the District Assemblies Common Fund. This is a statutory provision in the constitution, “for a whole year government has not done that, what is the assurance that the one that is not statutory when government collects it would be sent back to the MMDAs?” He queried.
He further noted that, government has proven for some time now that it cannot be trusted as far as reimbursing the Assemblies are concerned. It is troubling for government to come and collect property rate meant for the assemblies and take it to the center, he added.
After they take what they take then they would give the remaining to the Assemblies. GRA themselves are limited in scope and jurisdiction, “so, how are they effectively going to embark on this function that has been executed by the MMDAs for some time?”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com