CHAPTER TWO
Date - 14/Sep/2016
CHAPTER THREE
3.0. Governance
Mandate
In pursuance of section 3 of the Local Government Act (Act 462) of 1993, the Nandom District Assembly is the highest political and administrative authority at the district level that has been charged with the responsibility of formulating and executing plans, programmes and strategies for effective mobilization of resources to ensure the overall development of the district as enshrined in its mission statement.
Composition of the Assembly
The Nandom District Assembly is made up of Thirty-Eight (38) Assembly persons, comprising Twenty-Five (25) elected members, Eleven (11) Government Appointees, the Honourable District Chief Executive and the Member of Parliament, who is an ex-officio member. Out of the Thirty-Eight Member Assembly, only six (6) of them are females and thirty two (32) males.
The meetings of the Assembly are chaired by the Presiding Member who is elected from among the members to serve not more than two (2) terms of two (2) years each.
Immediately below the Assembly is the Executive Committee, made up of 30% of the Assembly members. The Executive Committee is chaired by the District Chief Executive. The Committee operates through its various sub-committee which are co-ordinated by the District Co-ordinating Director. These sub-committees deliberate on elevant issues of the District and submit them as recommendations to the Executive Committee, which then submits it to the whole house for approval. Technically, the Executive Committee acts as the cabinet of the Assembly and therefore takes and approves all major decisions before they are forwarded to the General Assembly for rectification
Beside the Executive Committee of the Assembly is the Public Relations and Complaints Committee chaired by the Hon. Presiding Member. Its main responsibility is to received and address written complaints from the general public which boarder on the conduct both the Assembly staff and Hon. Assembly Members. This committee can also make recommendations on the conduct of such persons for consideration by the House.
The essence of the establishment of the Local Government structure and for that matter the Nandom District Assembly is to ensure the full participation of the people at the grassroots level in decision making processes and implementation of programmes and projects which invariably impacts positively or negatively on their lives. The Assembly members are therefore the link between the people and the Assembly. Therefore, in order that the aspirations of the communities can be realized it is expected that Assembly members would ensure that a positive hearing is accorded them.
However, the Nandom District Assembly has not been without teething problems, (e.g. of which are:
a) Some Assembly Members do not attend Assembly meetings regularly and on many occasions makes decision taking at meetings difficult.
b) Another difficulty is that many of the Assembly members do not organize meetings before or after the Ordinary meetings of the Assembly. They are therefore unable to neither present the true concerns of the communities nor explain to their constituents the developmental interventions undertaken by the Assembly or Central Government.
c) Some of the Assembly members who are key to sub-committee meetings stay outside the region.
Traditional Authorities
Alongside the decentralized governance system is a supportive traditional governance system which appears to be in harmony with the District Assembly System thereby promoting development in the local area. The District has one paramouncy, that is, the Nandom Paramouncy headed by the NandomNaa. He is supported by Seventeen Divisional Chiefs and several Sub-Division Chiefs. A remarkable feature of the traditional governance system in Nandom is that there are no chieftaincy conflicts like in other parts of the country.
The two governance systems seek the development of their area and as such they are able to complement each other as a team towards achieving the common goal of development. This may be traced to the absence of power dynamics and competition for control of resources between the two systems. Interactions between District Assembly and traditional authorities in the District go beyond the ceremonial role of chiefs during major functions. More often than not, Land disputes and occasional conflicts are settled by the Assembly and the Traditional Council.
- Absenteeism and non-commitment to duty on the part of Town and Area Council staff. This attitude of the staff could be blamed on the non-availability of any meaningful form of remuneration. Area Council staffs are supposed to be paid from the 30 percent of revenue they generate locally which is so insignificant because of the virtual absence of economic activities in these communities.
- The Hon. Assembly members who form part of the Town/Area Councils membership have not exerted the desired influence to ensure that the Town/Area Councils work effectively.
- Many of the staff engaged in fraudulent practices and there is also evidence of misappropriation of funds.
- Most of the Administrative Secretaries are retired public workers or teachers and so revenue generation is almost impossible.
Table 6: Decentralised Institutions in Nandom District
| No | Department | Constituent | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central Administration | Chief Executive | Available |
| Coordinating Directorate | Available | ||
| Finance | Available | ||
| Planning | Available | ||
| Works | Available | ||
| Budget | Available | ||
| Information Service Dept. | Available | ||
| Environmental Health | Not Available | ||
| Audit | Available | ||
| Procurement | Not Available | ||
| Statistical Service | Not Available | ||
| 2 | Education, Youth and Sports | Education | Available |
| Ghana Library Board. | Not Available | ||
| 3 | Social Welfare and Community Development | Social Welfare | Available |
| Community Development | Not Available | ||
| 4 | Births and Deaths Registry | Not Available | |
| 5 | Physical Planning | Department of Town planning | Available |
| Department of Parks and Gardens | Not Available | ||
| 6 | Works | Public Works Department | Not Available |
| Department of Feeder Roads | Not Available | ||
| 7 | Trade and industry | Trade | Not Available |
| Cottage Industry | Not Available | ||
| Rural Enterprises Project | Available | ||
| 8 | Natural resource conservation | Forestry | Not Available |
| Games and Wildlife | Not Available | ||
| 9 | Health | Health Directorate | Available |
| Health Insurance Authority | Not Available | ||
| 10 | MOFA/DADU | Not Available | |
| 11 | Disaster Prevention | Fire Service Department | Available |
| NADMO | Available |
Development Partners
In addition to the efforts of Government to push forward the development of our new and teething district, are active development partners operating in the District. Though minimal in their numbers, these development partners complement and bridge the gap in Government’s development efforts. Their fields of operation range from water and sanitation, education, health, agriculture, Gender inclusiveness, Peace and Land Disputes among others. The District Assembly recognizing this key role played by these partners has put in place measures to create an enabling environment for these partners to operate.
Below is a table of development partners and their fields of operation:-
Table 7: Development Partners
| No | Organisation | Area of Operation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | PRONET | Water and Sanitation |
| 2 | NANDOM AGRIC PROJECT | Agricultural Extension Services |
| 3 | WFP | Health and Nutrition |
| 4 | CARE | Gender, Water and Sanitation |
| 5 | CIKOD | Environment |
| 6 | SNV | Water and Sanitation |
| 7 | PLAN | Education |
| 8 | CARD-Ghana | Gender |
Economic Governance
In order to ensure that resources are managed effectively and cost is reduced, the assembly has instituted some measures to be able to achieve this. Among these measures are;
Expenditure of the District is matched with the flow of revenue.
Only expenditure provided for in the estimated budget is incurred.
Attempt is made not to exceed any expenditure item in the estimates
Movement of vehicles is controlled in order to reduce running cost.
It is ensured that stationery is not wasted. This help to cut down stationery cost.
Claims presented by staff are scrutinized to ensure that they are genuine before payment is effected.
In order to control movement of stores, the following procedures are followed.
All store items are taken in charge by the Storekeeper and kept in the store. Tally cards are prepared for each item indicating the quantity procured.
Any Officer requesting a store item will make a registration to the District coordinating Director for approval.
When the registration is approved, the storekeeper will prepare a store issue voucher to be signed by the Officer requesting the materials
The quantity issued is indicated on the tally card to show the current balance.
On the payments of contractors, when certificates are submitted by the consultants, the District Assembly’s monitoring team will inspect the project to ensure that the work is of good quality. The team will issue their report before payment is effected.
The District Chief Executive authorizes all payments.
In the case of other departments: their expenditure authorization is issued by the controller and accountant.
District Revenue Pattern
Like any other District in the country, the Nandom District Assembly obtains its revenue/income from two main sources; the Internally Generated Revenue and Grants. The Internally Generated Revenue includes Rates, Fee and Fines, Investment etc whilst the Grants are however made up of funds from Central Government, donor Agencies and NGOs.
The main Funds from Central Government are: District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), and District Development Facility, departmental allocations and Personal Emoluments of all government employees in the district.
The erratic and incomplete inflows of funds from central government are the main challenges with the revenue pattern of the district coupled with low IGF potentials in the district. It is not uncommon for the district to receive less than half of her allocation from central government.
The table below gives you an idea of the picture of funds inflow.
Table 8: District Revenue Pattern
| SOURCE | 2012 | 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | Received | Variance | Budget | Received | Variance | |
| IGF | 23,000.00 | 3,899.10 | 83 | 74,000.00 | 67,685.60 | 8.5 |
| DACF | 1,119,988.00 | 414,496.84 | 63 | 1,053,988.00 | 445,482.41 | 57.7 |
| DACF (MP) | 0.00 | 0.00 | - | 200,000.00 | 346,433.00 | (73.2) |
| DACF(PWD) | 0.00 | 0.00 | - | 24,781.00 | 53,433.00 | (115.6) |
| DDF | 0.00 | 0.00 | 100 | 546,368.00 | 452,424.60 | 17.2 |
| GSFP | 0.00 | 0.00 | - | 929,889.00 | 365,358.35 | 60.7 |
| GSOP | 0.00 | 0.00 | 100 | 400,000.00 | 0.00 | 100 |
| GoG (DeptAlloc.) | 38,273.19 | 0.00 | 100 | 76,546.37 | 9,290.84 | 87.7 |
| Others | 0.00 | 0.00 | 100 | 1,000,000.00 | 0.00 | 100 |
Internally Generated Fund
| SOURCE | 2012 | 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | Received | Variance | Budget | Received | Variance | |
| Rates | 3,899.10 | 0.00 | 74,000.00 | 67,685.60 | 6314.00 | |
| Fees and Fines | 1,119,988.00 | 414,496.84 | 705,491.16 | 1,053,988.00 | 445,482.41 | 608505.60 |
| Licenses | 0.00 | 0.00 | 200,000.00 | 346,433.00 | (146433.00) | |
| Rent | 0.00 | 24,781.00 | 53,433.00 | (28652.00) | ||
| Investment | 0.00 | 3,000.00 | 1,082.10 | 1917.90 | ||
| Miscellaneous | 1,825.00 | 0.00 | 1,825.00 | 1,825.00 | 8,108.50 | (6283.00) |
| TOTAL | 1,121,813.00 | 418,395.90 | 707,316.16 | 1,357,594.50 | 922,224.00 | 435,369.90 |
The table above shows the IGF performance of the assembly ove the last year. Due to the low revenue potentials of the district, the IGF performace is appreciated t=but is not good enough. Though the taget set was almost met, but the amount realized is not sustential enough finance the recurrent expenditure of the assembly. More efforts need to be geared towards the mobilization to improve upon its collection and the increase the amount collected
Table 10: Expenditure Pattern of the Assembly
| SOURCE Of Found | 2012 | 2013 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget Line | Expenditure | Variance | Budget Line | Expenditure | Variance | |
| IGF | 3,899.10 | 0 | 74,000.00 | 60,251.44 | 13,748.56 | |
| DACF | 1,119,988.00 | 414,496.84 | 705,491.16 | 1,053,988.00 | 445,482.41 | 608,505.59 |
| DACF (MP) | 0.00 | 0 | 200,000.00 | 10,019.11 | 189,980.89 | |
| DACF(PWD) | 0 | 24,781.00 | 42,977.50 | -18,196.50 | ||
| DDF | 0 | 929,889.00 | 314,608.28 | 615,280.72 | ||
| GSOP | 200,000.00 | 0.00 | 200,000.00 | 400,000.00 | 0.00 | 400,000.00 |
Summary and Implications of Expenditure Patterns
Due to the erratic and incomplete flow of funds to the assembly from central government, a lot of expenditures are not met. The table shows that less than half of the expenditure targetd was met.