The state of Ghana's local government system : the case of Assembly Members
Date
2012-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
International development organisations have, for a long time, presented Ghana as having a highly functional intergovernment system or decentralisation. While this projection is far from the country’s grounded reality, Ghana continues
to benefit from the ‘misrepresentation’ as one of the preferred destinations in the sub-Saharan region for foreign aid and
development assistance. This paper discusses some of the weaknesses inherent in Ghana’s local government system.
Specifically, it unravels the issues affecting the operations of Assembly Members, who are key facilitators of developments
at the local level. The paper is based on the ethnographic study of the World Bank-funded Community-Based Rural
Development Projects (CBRDP) implemented in Ghana between 2005-2011. The analysis of the empirical data collected
in 2010/2011 from nine localities in the Eastern, Greater Accra and Volta Regions indicates that Assembly Members are
faced with many challenges, some of which would require national civic education and constitutional amendments to
address. The paper seeks to show the complex factors that impact on decentralisation and local government systems.
Description
Peer reviewed article published under Inkanyiso, Volume 4, Issue 2, Jan 2012, p. 101 - 110
Keywords
Ghana Local Government System, Assembly Members, local government,, traditional chiefs
Citation
Ekhator, E.O., 2012. Public sector ethics in the United Kingdom: an overview. Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 4(2), pp.91-100.