Decentralisation in ghana pdf

A study of the impact of decentralization on access to service delivery a dissertation presented to the academic faculty by pablo a. Devolution is the most comprehensive form of decentralization and entails the transfer of authority, autonomy, and accountability to elected subnational governments. Indeed, article 240 of the 1992 constitution of ghana provides for the country to have a system of local government and administration which shall, as far as practicable, be decentralized. Administrative decentralization in ghana, the civil service law, the local government act, the local government service act and the national development planningsystems act are the main legislations governing administrative decentralization administrative decentralization in ghana involves ministerial restructuring and the. It is structured into a number of parts as follows.

Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. Challenges of ghanas decentralisation process news ghana. Its focus is on the extent to which power and authority are dispersed through the. Despite pronouncements to the contrary, central governments often do. In practice, however, linkages between decentralisation and decentralised cooperation remain rather elusive in ghana. This article applies evolutionary theory of path dependency to explain the past, present, and future trajectories of decentralisation and local government lg institutional development in ghana and uganda. The local government in ghana has a long history, which predates colonialism. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Development and productivity institute, the ghana institute of. In political studies, decentralisation means the territorial distribution of power. Linkages between decentralisation and decentralised. International experience with decentralisation has motivated a wellknown typology. It was prepared by management systems international.

However, the current decentralisation policy was initiated in 1988. Ghana s decentralization process seeks to devolve political, administrative and financial. The policy necessitated a change in the national planning process. An overview of the fundamentals in public administration research. Political decentralization aims to give citizens or their elected representatives more power in public decisionmaking. Issues of poverty reduction are addressed in uganda, ghana, malawi and tanzania, while those of conflict management are explored in mauritius, namibia, south africa, uganda and rwanda. Ghana s decentralisation process as enshrined in the constitution designates district assemblies as the highest political, legislating, budgeting and planning authority at the local level. Although ghana has been committed to decentralization since the passing of. Theory as reform james edwin kee the federal system was created with the intention of combining the different advantages which result from the magnitude and the littleness of nations.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do. The challenges and opportunities of decentralization decentralization creates both challenges and opportunities. The existence and practice of local governance and decentralisation in ghana is thus institutionalised. From 1988 to date, decentralization policy in ghana has combined elements of political, administrative and fiscal decentralization ayee, 2008. Decentralisation of health care and its impact on health.

The history of decentralization in ghana was traced back to the introduction of indirect rule by the british colonial authorities in 1878, lasting until 1951 ayee 2000. At the risk of sounding repetitive, i wish to reiterate an observation i made in my first message on the state of the nation on tuesday, 21st february 2017. A decade ago, the constitution of ghana and subsequent legislation set up a framework for decentralising basic education services to the district level in ghana. The term decentralization refers generally to the transfer of power and. Decentralization and governance in the ghana health sector. Assessing the performance of district assemblies and exploring the scope of partnerships by matthias zana naab ba hons.

Political, administrative, fiscal and market decentralization can also appear in different forms and combinations across countries, within countries and even within sectors. Numerous scholars recognize ghana in the twentieth century as a microcosm of social, political and economic processes in africa. Meaning, advantages and disadvantages of decentralisation. Decentralization has, not only an administrative value, but also a civic dimension, since it increases the opportunities for citizens to take interest in public affairs. Ghana 1992 31 27 34 tanzania 1993 42 20 51 south africa 1993 44 40 86. As a result, this study is concerned with the effectiveness of decentralization in ghana but with a focus on one particular district, kpone katamanso. A multilevel approach is used to promote coordination mechanisms between regional, local and national stakeholders.

Decentralisation extends to the lowest level of the organisation. Subunits include divisions, subsidiaries, profit centers, investment centers, and so on. Effectiveness of decentralization in ghana james a. Support for education mechanism global reading network. The 1992 constitution of the republic of ghana and the various legislations on decentralisation articulate the explicit objectives of the policy which includes responsiveness to community needs. The support for decentralisation reforms sfdr project supports the implementation of decentralisation reforms in ghana in 60 municipalities nationwide. There is no doubt that the countrys decentralization programme has aged enough to require a nationwide evaluation of. Decentralization is the means to allow for the participation of people and local governments morell. This paper deals with ghana experience in fiscal decentralization. Market decentralisation may involve constitutional law reform as well as the passage of new laws to. More precisely, the system was based on several variants of hierarchical deconcentration, associated with an. While much of the literature on decentralisation in health care. This and other typologies for ghana have the limitation that decentralisation experience in the region is still. This edition a guide to district assemblies in ghana contains nine 9 chapters preceded by an introduction.

For example, a profit center is likely to have authority to make d. This concept, expressed asthe transfer of authority from the center to subordinate ends, is importantboth for more effective and productive management of the areas outside thecenter organization in public administration and for strengthening these areasin terms of democracy. The concept of decentralization refers to decentralized, directed fromcenter to periphery, organized around and such. This is one finding from a recent ifpri discussion paper and associated policy note in which i examined the impact of the devolution of agricultural functions to ghana s mmdas. Project muse the politics of decentralization in ghanas. Decentralization reform refers to transforming the local institutional infrastructure for natural resource management on which local forest management is based ribot. The institute for democratic governance ideg on wednesday held a national forum on the successes and challenges of the decentralisation process in ghana. Implications for agricultural service delivery in ghana pdf. The decentralisation policy of ghana devolves power, functions and responsibility as well as human and financial resources from the central government to the district level.

Notes to the concept of decentralization pdf paperity. Decentralised governance annex 1 decentralisation refers to the restructuring of authority so that there is a system of co. Smith1,2 january 2005 abstract this paper explores the impact of health care decentralisation on a characteristic of human development. A study of the impact of decentralization on access to. The training is carried out by a number of ghanaian organisations such as the management. Focusing on two claims in particular, this book questions whether decentralisation does offer a significant pathway out of poverty and conflict in africa.

Notwithstanding the well thought out decentralization structure in ghana and the many years of implementation, the outcomes of decentralization in the different local assemblies is less even. Decentralization, administration, governance, accountability, delegation. The above quote drawn from a recent undp document underscores the need to develop a better understanding of the concept. Ghana s decentralization policy has gone through several reforms since independence. Pdf the governance work of the commonwealth secretariat has a particular focus on public sector development in africa and small states. The balance sheet of decentralization in ghana springerlink. When a part of the work is entrusted to others, it is known as delegation. And from the accumulation of these local, active, persnickety freedoms, is born the most efficient counterweight against the. Rural poverty, decentralisation and development kirubi maina business school nanjing normal university. Decentralisation can be viewed as an extension of delegation. In theory, the decentralisation of government services represents a major redistribution of authority, responsibility, and.

Decentralization of the health sector in ghana, zambia, uganda and the philippines country basic type of year initiated levels special elements decentralization ghana delegation to 1996 ghana 10 regional health ghs overseen by a. The evidence brought together in this book point to a signi. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. The politics of decentralization in ghana s fourth republic. Decentralization and governance in ghana request pdf. Pdf the past, present, and future of decentralisation in. Decentralization refers to a companys top management delegating authority to subunits of the company. Decentralised cooperation was launched in 1994 as a twoyear pilot programme with limited funding. Decentralization of health systems in ghana, zambia. It also establishes major areas of relationship between the local and central government. I limit myself here to three of the principal challenges. Some decentralization experiments have been designed in such a way as to introduce measures that moderate the independence of local governments, with a view to a gradual introduction of the full features of devolution. Saavedracostas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor in philosophy in the andrew young school of policy studies and the school of public policy.