Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam has asked the Office of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to transfer the allocated GH¢181,837,022.00 to the beneficiaries of the DACF-Responsiveness Factor Grant (RFG) for the District Performance Assessment Tool (DPAT) VI.
The Minister was unhappy about the ongoing delays in transferring the funds to the Metropolitan Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs).
He said the delays could undermine the government’s commitment to bilateral cooperation agreements and pose a significant risk to the Ministry’s objective of mobilising resources to support local development through decentralisation.
A statement issued by the Minister dated February 27, 2024, Mr Adam said the Ministry received a letter dated December 12, 2023, from the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), requesting the DACF Office to transfer GH¢181,837,022.00; GH¢170,142,722.00 to the Sub-consolidated accounts of the MMDAs and GH¢11,694,300 to the DPAT Secretariat for DPAT VI activities.
The MMDAs he added were having difficulties in functioning effectively due to the delays.
The prerequisite for Development Partners (DPs) committing funds to the DACF-RFG was the transfer of funds intended for the previous DPAT cycle (both GoG and DP contributions) to the MMDAs for their planned activities, he noted.
He further disclosed that the Finance Ministry had received concerns from its development partners about the delayed transfer of funds to MMDAs, which threatens current and future DP support to the DACF-RFG.
According to the statement, the Swiss Government was hesitant to execute a new grant financing agreement of CHF22million, including CHF6million for DPAT VII activities in 2024, because the CHF4million disbursed in December 2022, along with the corresponding Government of Ghana (GoG) contribution for DPAT VI activities in 2023, had not been transferred to the MMDAs.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
