The government has transferred GH¢987, 965, 073 from the Consolidated Fund onto the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) account for onward disbursement to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has announced.The amount he stated represented first quarter tranche due the DACF.In line with the government's own promise, the Administrator of the fund has been directed to ensure that 80 per cent of the amount is transferred directly to the accounts of the respective assemblies without fail.The Minister also urged the administrator to ensure that expenditure returns are submitted to the Ministry before subsequent releases will be made.Presenting a statement on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday the Minister indicated that as a result of the severe financial strain facing the assemblies the President, John Dramani Mahama directed that the allocation be disbursed without delay to empower them to drive economic growth.He said Cabinet had also approved the guidelines to ensure prudent and accountable utilisation of the fund in pursuant to Article 126(3) of the Local Government Act 931 which mandates the category of projects that will be utilised under the new guidelines.The Minister stated that measures had been put in place to ensure that 80 per cent of the fund released to the assemblies are earmarked for developmental projects.He said 25 per cent of the amount transferred to the assemblies was to be utilised for the design and construction of 24-Hour Economy Model Markets, 10 per cent for the construction of health facilities a minimum of two Community-based Health Planning System (CHPS) compound per each assembly and another 10 per cent of the amount for the construction of educational facilities including; one Kindergarten block, and each for the primary and the Junior High Schools."Mr Speaker another 10 per cent of the amount will go into the provision of potable water in each assembly with a minimum of 10 boreholes, another 10 per cent will be sent directly to the assemblies for the provision of school furniture," he explained.Mr Forson indicated that in order for the assemblies not to use this amount for the purposes of the administration, monitoring and evaluation the government has capped their allocation for the running of the assembly at five per cent.He said having recognised the need to complete abandoned legacy projects including the numerous uncompleted structures left behind by the Middle Belt Development Authority, the Coastal Development Authority and the Northern Development Authority government had allocated additional 20 per cent of the amount to be used to fix the mess.Dr Forson therefore urged the Members of Parliament to monitor the utilisation of the amount sent to their respective assemblies in line with the approved guidelines by the cabinet.In addition to the DACF, he said GH¢ 2,033,469,607 had been disbursed to National Health Insurance Fund for the period covering the first quarter, with a total amount of GH¢ 2.710,227,947 transferred to Education Trust Fund.BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
DACF receives GH¢988m for disbursement to MMDAs - Ghanaian Times
Published:
1 day ago
Source:
Ghanaian Times