ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE OF SUB-MUNICIPAL STRUCTURES IN GHANA’S DECENTRALIZATION PROGRAMME: A CASE OF THE WA MUNICIPALITY

Abstract

Decentralization is globally recognized as the way of ensuring community participation and local development. Many countries including Ghana have adopted decentralization and implemented the concept in different ways. In the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region, though the Sub-Municipal structures in the decentralization process have been confronted with much challenges, there has been some remarkable performances. Therefore, the study sought to assess the performance of the Sub-Municipal Structures in Ghana’s decentralization programme. Cross sessional design was adopted where qualitative data in some cases was triangulated with the quantitative data. Simple random and Purposive sampling were used to select 87 respondents for the study. Primary and Secondary data were sourced. The study revealed among others that there is effective collaboration between the committees, the sub-municipal structures and the Municipal Assembly. The Common Fund and the Internally-Generated Fund were the main sources of funds for the Municipality. The stakeholders of the communities and the youth leaders are mostly involved in the implementation of policies in the local governance. The study further revealed that payment of the allowances apportioned to the assembly members delayed. It is concluded that the Municipal Assembly, political interference, inadequate resources, inadequate transparency and accountability are some of the challenges confronting the Municipal Assembly. The study recommends that the Municipal Assembly should endeavour to ensure that the disbursement of the common fund and the Internally Generated Fund to the Assembly.