Akwasi Opong‑Fosu, the National Democratic Congress’s aspiring national chairman, said on Channel One TV that MPs and District Chief Executives are often unfairly blamed for local development challenges because they lack direct control over the resources and authority needed to address them.
Speaking to Umaru Sanda Amadu on Face to Face on Tuesday, Opong‑Fosu explained that the current composite budget system forces district assemblies to combine their own resources with those of ministries that operate within their jurisdictions, limiting the autonomy of the departments that are expected to deliver services at the district level.
He argued that these departments should be fully decentralised so they report to district assemblies rather than to authorities outside their jurisdictions. “For me, from my experience, the departments must be fully decentralised so that no department reports to an authority outside the district,” he said.
Opong‑Fosu urged the Finance Minister to release departmental allocations directly to the assemblies, ensuring that the funds needed for local development are available where the work is carried out. “The Minister for Finance should release the funds of those departments directly to the district so that they can implement their developmental activities,” he said.
He added that such an arrangement would make local authorities more accountable for development outcomes, allowing residents to hold the appropriate officials responsible for problems such as poor roads and inadequate health facilities. “All the departments will prepare their budgets. Then the assembly will put it together as a composite budget, and the Minister for Finance will release the money to the assembly so that if, say, there is an issue regarding a clinic or roads, the citizens in that locality will hold the assembly and the DCE responsible for the central government,” he said.
Opong‑Fosu’s call for full decentralisation comes amid growing criticism that local development projects are stalled by bureaucratic bottlenecks and lack of fiscal autonomy.
