Citizens Of 23 Mmas Dissatisfied With Officials’ Work Ethics Towards Enquiries

Julius Kwesi Debrah, Minister for MLGRD

A new survey report released by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development says, citizens in twenty-three Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) in Ghana are grossly dissatisfied with local officials’ response to their enquiries on social services.

The report noted that 49 percent of people whose views were sampled in all MMAs across the country indicated levels of dissatisfaction with the way officials respond to their enquiries or request for services at the offices of the MMAs.

On the contrary, only 22 percent of respondents indicated some levels of satisfaction with the responsiveness of MMAs to their enquiries on a range of services, the report said, adding that, only 17 percent of the respondents living in MMAs knew both their Metropolitan or Municipal Chief Executive and the Assembly member. 47 percent knew their Assembly member and only 3 percent knew their MCE.

Ms Wasila Suyhen, Senior Director, Development Planning at the Social Accountability Unit of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) presented key findings of the survey at a stakeholder forum held in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital. 

Dubbed “The Citizen’s Perception Survey” on local government public financial management and urban services, the survey was commissioned by MLGRD and funded by the World Bank to gather baseline data on citizens’ engagement with urban Assemblies and their perception of urban management and service delivery.

It gauged perceptions of citizens’ of local government public financial management processes and as well as their interactions with key MMA staff to access information. It also assessed citizens’ experiences with key urban services delivery such as health, education, water, sanitation and roads.

The survey covered a nationally representative sample of 3, 678 households, randomly and systematically selected from 172 enumeration areas in 23 selected MMAs across the ten administrative regions of Ghana. These districts are also direct beneficiaries of Urban Development Grants under the Local Government Capacity Support Programme.

The sampling process took into accounts the size of the population of each MMA and made allowance for the allocation of households per MMA. The target population was households in the selected districts. In each household, the head of family or representative 18 years and above responded to the survey. Key institutions such as the MLGRD, the Regional Coordinating Councils, Civil Society Organisations, and identifiable beneficiary groups were also engaged in the process of the survey.

The Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions accounted for 67 percent of respondents to the survey (44 and 23 percent respectively) of the people interviewed. The Upper West Region accounted for only 1 percent of respondents. This is consistent with the sampling proportion size methodology which allows for densely populated areas to have larger representation in the sample.   

However, majority of citizens of MMAs according to the survey do not have the opportunity to participate in the budget process of their Assemblies and have very little information about the budget of their Assemblies. Over 99 percent of all respondents according to Ms Suyhen have no idea of the expected revenue in the MMAs budget.

Nearly a third of citizens she said have no idea about the priorities of their MMAs in the budget. “When asked, 32 percent, said they do not know, 17 percent said education, 15 percent roads, 11 percent mentioned sanitation and another 8 percent said wages and salaries”, she quoted the report. 

Also, she explained that, only a little over a third of all citizens in MMAs, 37 percent, are aware of their right to participate in the budget process of their MMAs. 63 percent said they did not know they could participate in the budget deliberations of the Assembly, Ms. Suyhen added.

Meanwhile, Head of the Social Accountability Unit of the MLGRD Ms Irene Messiba urged District Assemblies to see transparency and accountability processes as requirements that will enhance governance and foster development in their communities.

She also encouraged the media to continue to play an effective watchdog role by holding Assembly officials accountable to the people they serve by ensuring that the citizens understand policies and programmes of their Assemblies.