Honorary Vice President IMANI Ghana, Bright Simons, has raised pertinent questions regarding the proposed one million-dollar, one constituency scheme by the incoming New Patriotic Party government.
The NPP in August promised to provide each of the 275 constituencies in the country with a million-dollar each year to enable them deal with problems that are specific to them.
It explained this pro-poor intervention would form part of the party’s Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Project (IPEP).
Ahead of the party’s taking over of the reign of governance, Mr Simons said the proposal has now moved from being hypothetical and raised some questions as to how it would be administered, suggesting several options for the incoming government to consider.
In a Facebook post, Mr Simons wondered whether the offices of the Members of Parliament, which are the only administrative structures at the constituencies, would be the one to manage the one million dollar per constituency fund.
Mr Simons is also questioning why each constituency should be given the same amount whereas the population the constituencies and their needs differ.
“Why give each constituency $1 million when needs and populations vary so much?,” he asked
Read his full analysis
1. The only administrative structures at constituency level are the MP offices. Will MPs be responsible for managing this new fund? Then why not scrap districts and make the idea of electing DCEs redundant as MPs are elected? Then the resources available to DCEs can be handed over to the MP offices to manage. What is the point of creating a parallel administrative structure at constituency level?
2. Currently, each district receives on average $1.8 million.
If the money sent to the districts were instead sent to constituencies, each one would receive roughly $1.4 million.The OMC scheme would thus imply a 70% increase in the funds allocated to local governments. This looks amazing until one realises that currently only 40% of the funds allocated to the local government entities actually get to them, due to high bureaucratic costs at the level of the funds’ managers in Accra. Instead of a 70% increase in payments out of the national treasury, why not simply reform the local government financing arrangement to cut down on the 60% overhead?
3. Why give each constituency $1 million when needs and populations vary so much? 6 out of every 10 people in the North falls within the lowest fifth of the country’s wealth structure, whilst in Accra the corresponding figure is less than 2 out of 10 people. Whilst there are about 320,000 people in Asawase and 530,000 people in Weija/Ga-South, there are less than 60,000 people in Dormaa East, Sissala West, and Lambussie Karni. Why should these districts all get the same amount?
Source: 3news
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There is rational behind Mr Brights accessions but we must do away with the cant do spirit and rather embrace the can do spirit with bigger dreams to move our nation forward.Everybody will be satisfied if at the end of the day there is equity in the distribution of the national cake. When that happens the quantum will not be necessary.
IMANI is trying to win consultancy contracts from the NPP govt but it will not wash. Their leader did not even vote and they did not find anything wrong with it however they think they can decide for govts. If IMANI think they're have ideas they should form a political party and stop dictating for govts. The $1m per constituency will not be managed by MPs or DCEs but will be managed by a trustee who will be accounted for at regular times so IMANI
Mr Simons, I share your views on the proper administration and effective usage of the $1m proposed to be disbursed to each constituency. However i disagree with you on the score that population differ from one constituency to the other therefore allocation of $1m to each constituency may be inequitable. So how about geographical boundaries. I like the example of Sisala West and Lambusie that you alluded to. One can also make the argument that these are places with vast lands yet due to lack of infrastructure and inactivity, the majority of their population, especially the youth, have migrated to the south in search of jobs. If Lambusie or Sisala West receives a substantial infrastructural attention, that in itself has a huge potential of attracting a sizable number of the youth of Sisala and Lambusie who have migrated to the South, particularly Accra, for greener pastures. The picture i see here is that, confidence would be restored in the local economy, the poverty gap will be substantially bridged and the population in these deprived areas would also sore steadily.
massa bright, there is nothing solid in your statement. you sound like an attention seeker! massa go dorge. these IMANI guys are traitors who are employed by the Europeans to throw dust into anything that can lead us to financial freedom
These issues he raised are are worth considering. Why are people so defensive? we must be open for constructive critiquing. It is only through that well refined ideas will emerge. #StopThePropagandaNow
In the NPP manifesto, they said they will establish three development authorities (Northern, Middle/Coastal and the Southern)to supervise the disbursement and the usage of the $1m per each constituency. Let us see how they go about this and stop being skeptics. I know they will deliver.
N,D,C WILL REMAIN IN OPPOSITION FOR I MILLION YEARS FROM GHANA PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD