Parliament on Thursday, May 24, 2018, summoned the administrator of the district assembly common fund (DACF) Irene Naa Torshie Addo over her directive to various assemblies to use 80% their allocation to fund central government programmes.
Government last month issued a directive through the Administrator of DACF, to all the various MMDAs to deduct 40% of their share of the fund for the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), 20% to pay the salaries of Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) employees and also 20% for the operations of Planting for Foods and Jobs programme.
The directive was criticised by the general public, local governance experts, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including former District Chief Executives and Members of Parliament (MPs) as well as some political parties.
The massive public outcry compelled the second deputy Speaker Alban Bagbin to summon the DACF Administrator Naa Torshie to appear before the House to explain the rationale behind the directive.
Addressing the press on the development, the deputy Minority chief whip and MP for Banda, Ibrahim Ahmed who requested the presence of the DACF Administrator accused the government of robbing the assemblies of needed resources for developmental projects.
According to him, the directive will be an avenue for “grand corruption†and therefore “we must not permit this thing to go.â€
He alleged that the government is taking the 80% to spend in Accra leaving the District Assemblies to suffocate.
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