MMDCEs advocate establishment of Rural Development Grant for districts

Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives have suggested the establishment of Rural Development Grant targeted at district assemblies in the country.

This was one of the recommendations contained in a communiqué issued at a meeting recently at GIMPA.

In an interview with Ghanadistricts.com, James Gunu, District Chief Executive for Akatsi North stated that though there are more developmental needs in the districts compared to Metropolitan and municipal assemblies because of the rural nature of the communities in the district, there is no specific fund targeted at ensuring accelerated development in the districts. Unlike Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies that benefit from the Urban development grant (UDG) in addition to district development facility (DDF) which is open for all assemblies, the districts are not fortunate in this regard. 

With the pressure mounting on assemblies to equally meet developmental challenges in their various areas of jurisdictions, the chief executives believe the formation of the Rural Development Grant (RDG) will go a long way to assist district assemblies to avoid giving excuses and be fully responsible for meeting the needs of their people. They are also confident the creation of the grant will enhance local economic development for the creation of new jobs to deal with youth unemployment as well as help curtail the rural-urban drift which is currently on the ascendency. 

It was also observed that when it comes to revenue mobilization by the MMDAs internally, metropolitan and municipal assemblies still have the advantage to mobilize more from property rates and markets tolls.

MMDAs have had difficulty mobilizing enough resources internally to carry out more developments in their areas, and have rather resorted to keeping their hopes on the DACF to make any progress. While this trend is seriously being battled to ensure assemblies are self reliance they still need help. Being a performance based financial window, it will even push assemblies to do well in the specified areas to qualify for the grant.    

The creation of the RDG therefore makes sense and a positive suggestion if the better Ghana agenda is to be felt well at the district levels.