Ghana, political decentralization, participation, district assembly. The politics of decentralization in ghanas fourth republic. Government of ghana public disclosure authorized fiscal. Mozambique, zimbabwe, cote divoire, and ghana, with several of them tracing their evolutionary devolution or intentions to the 1980s especially. Involvement of nonstate actors in local governance ngo, cso, cbo, etc. From 1988 to date, decentralization policy in ghana has combined elements of political, administrative and fiscal decentralization ayee, 2008. It is structured into a number of parts as follows. In ghana, as elsewhere, the literature on decentralization and participation has over concentrated on how decentralization enhances participation ahmad et al. Pdf the challenges of central government fiscal and. Ghana needs proper fiscal decentralisation to enhance. The need to standardize fiscal variables in gfs inevitably leads to a.
Mar 01, 2019 the history of ghana s decentralization policy, a way to development started after independence when the local government act, act 54 of 1961 was enacted and this divided the country into cities. Ghana s decentralization policy framework and institutional structures operate through its 216 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies mmdas. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies. The need to standardize fiscal variables in gfs inevitably leads to a loss of details. Fiscal decentralization, economic growth and human. In addition, in the more recent phase of decentralization revival few countries have. By drawing lessons from foucaults and escobars critical discourse analysis, i traced a genealogy of ghana s fiscal decentralization. Contextualizing fiscal decentralization fiscal decentralization defines how and in what way expenditures and revenues are organized between and across different levels of government in the national polity. Government privatizes or deregulates private functions. Background during the past three years the government of ghana gog has realised considerable achievements in developing a policy framework. Proponents of fiscal decentralisation believe that, devolving government tax and expenditure responsibilities to lower tiers of governments will lead to the efficiency of governments and ultimately enhance economic growth. Oct 05, 2020 the government of ghana attempted to reduce this problem when it introduced a development fund in1994 known as the district assemblies common fund dacf to encourage local governance and deepen governments commitment to decentralization in general and fiscal devolution in particular. This argues that, since the efficient scale of production for most public goods is smaller than the national level, economic benefits will be maximised where decisions. Contemporary perspectives on fiscal decentralisation and new.
Financial responsibility is a core component of decentralization. This section, therefore, endeavors to determine the success of fiscal decentralization. Rethinking fiscal decentralization policies in developing. Decentralization and community participation in ghana. The politics of decentralization in ghanas fourth republic jstor.
It was prepared by management systems international. Ghana has since its independence, promoted decentralization in successive waves of legislation and initiatives, with several steps back along the way. Ghana fiscal decentralisation is relatively new and still undergoing several reforms to make it more efficient and so it is therefore. Decentralization and governance in the ghana health sector. Fiscal decentralization is widely recognized as an essential component in chinas transition to a market economy, and advocated by many for its contribution to the countrys remarkable economic performance over the last 30 years. Udeaja3 there is a widespread belief that fiscal decentralization is an effective tool for increasing the efficiency of public expenditures. Although ghana has been committed to decentralization since the passing of the 1993 local governance act, it typically has practiced deconcentrationi. The health sector rather saw a delegation from the moh to the ghs and teaching hospitals and a deconcentration within the ghs as provided by act 525. Opportunities and risks decentralization is transforming the structure of governance in africa. Giz is looking forward to our further cooperation with the government of ghana and all other relevant national and international stakeholders. Kauzya, reference kauzya, cheema and rondinelli 2007, design and emerging mechanisms of participation in subnational governments kauzya. Fiscal decentralization and the efficiency of public. A study towards deepening scal decentralization for effective local service delivery in ghana. Political decentralization equips the capacities of actors at the subnational level to struggle for a share in the greater political autonomy enjoyed by central government.
Fiscal decentralization has received a great degree of academic attention in china, as illuminated by the increasing number of academic journal papers published 19932011 annually in fig. Pdf reducing poverty through fiscal decentralization in ghana. These keywords were added by machine and not by the. While ghana has achieved significant political and administrative decentralization as well as decentralized planning, fiscal decentralization has been the unyielding component of the process. Since 1992, ghana has made strives at implementing fiscal decentralization in ghana. In ghana, it has been realised that the issue of fiscal devolution, among others, is the main cause of local government failure, because the central government had. Ghana needs proper fiscal decentralisation to enhance development. On the other hand, those who oppose fiscal decentralisation argue that fiscal decentralisation will result in ruins and wrecks.
Fiscal decentralization has received a great degree of academic attention in china, as illuminated by the increasing numbers of academic journal papers published 19932011 annually in fig. Through the 1992 constitution and subsequently various other legislative instruments, ghana. Fiscal decentralization, however, entails the transfer of fiscal resources and revenuegenerating powers, inclusive of authority over budgets and financial decisions, to either deconcentrated officials andor central government appointees or to elected politicians. If local governments and private organizations are to carry out decentralized functions effectively, they must have an adequate level of revenues either raised locally or transferred from the central government as well as the authority to make. Concept of fiscal decentralization and worldwide overview by. Di conducted a final performance evaluation of the local governance decentralization program logodep implemented by management systems international msi in ghana s western region. The policy necessitated a change in the national planning process. Ghana s decentralization process seeks to devolve political, administrative and financial.
Although, gfs is the most widely available internationally comparable data source on subnational finances, it is not an ideal data set for measuring fiscal decentralization. Government of ghana intergovernmental fiscal decentralisation framework. To deepen decentralization in ghana, the government has made its intention known that ministries of health, education and agriculture should be fully decentralized. Effectiveness of decentralization in ghana james a. Political decentralization and local participation in ghana core. We discuss three critical principles of a sound and efficient decentralized fiscal system and then show the contrasts between these and actual trends and policies. Fiscal decentralization has gained support by most of the worlds leading development organizations including the world bank, united states agency for international development and, asian development bank among others in the last two to three decades and it is for this reason that ghana has also made strides towards fiscal decentralisation. In this case, previously concentrated powers to tax and generate revenues are dispersed to other levels of government, e. This paper examines the desirability, or otherwise, of fiscal decentralization in the context of funding arrangements. Fiscal decentralisation, district assemblies common fund and.
At the request of usaid ghana, democracy international, inc. Decentralisation and management of human resource for. Fiscal decentralization involves defining fiscal responsibilities of the different levels of authority and also consists of fiscal instrument procedures. Other countries indicator china developing transition oecd countries economies countries subnational share of 48 16. However, the implementation of the program and management of revenue. New development of fiscal decentralization in china. Decentralization and governance in ghana request pdf. Fiscal decentralization defines how and in what way expenditures and revenues are organized between and across different levels of government in the national polity. Decentralisation and management of human resource for health. Autoregressive distributed lag ardl approach elijah udoh1, udoma afangideh2, and elias a. This academic attention to scal decentralization has particularly increased since 2000, although. Decentralization policy frame work ten main interrelated pillars 1. Fiscal decentralization, ghana, mixed methods, local government. Reducing poverty through fiscal decentralization in ghana and.
Ghana s decentralization policy has gone through several reforms since independence. The balance sheet of decentralization in ghana springerlink. Fiscal decentralization can also obstruct the redistribution role of the central government. African governance has a undergone radical transformation. Institutional, financial and functional constraints to. This paper deals with ghana experience in fiscal decentralization. The contemporary decentralization concept in ghana was crippled at birth to satisfy a cosmetic outlook of modernist theory even when the reality on the ground dictated otherwise. The district assembly common fund and fiscal decentralisation. I found that the policy is held out as a good thing in ghana because of the triangular operation of multiplicities of power, knowledge, and. Fiscal decentralization, economic growth and human resource. The challenge of fiscal decentralization in transition countries. Since 1988 ghana has implemented comprehensive local government and.
Fiscal decentralization institute for fiscal studies ghana. Pdf the challenges of central government fiscal and financial. I appreciate the academic opportunity and support from brock university, the faculty of graduate studies, the graduate students association at brock university, and sincerely thank all. The need to deepen our understanding of ghanas fiscal decentraliza on. Critical issues of fiscal decentralization asian development bank. Administrative decentralization in ghana, the civil service law, the local government act, the local government service. Balance sheet voter turnout fiscal decentralization electoral commission local government election. Fiscal decentralization involves the transfer of fiscal resources and revenue generating. Decentralization in ghana elizabeth renckens spanning the 10year period between 2002 and 2012. Fiscal decentralization is recruitment and selection into ghana s local governments theory and practice, fig. However, most subordinated that aim to the centralization that attended various shades of authoritarian rule. Fiscal decentralisation under the district assemblies common fund dacf in ghana is supposed to transfer more financial resources from the centre to the districts, and to provide fiscal autonomy. The search was done using english language words such as decentralization fiscal decentralization. This paper provides an overview of theoretical considerations and ambiguity underlying the argument for decentralization followed by a brief history of ghana s political system.
Since the middle of the l980s most african countries have started a transfer of power, resources and responsibilities to their subnational governments. Pdf the unfinished agenda in the theory and practice of fiscal decentralization is how fiscal decentralization affects the universal plague of. Fiscal decentralization and the efficiency of public service. Second, i summarise major dimensions of decentralisation and suggest some of the key. To summarize the major fiscal decentralization issues. The story of decentralisation in ghana is an interesting one. It is also about the extent to which local governments are empowered, about how much authority and. The policy necessitated a change in the national planning process from the centralized topdown system to a. Although a semblance of decentralization exists in most districts in ghana, where the health sector has been collaborating with the.
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