The impact of district assembly common fund on the economic welfare of Ghanaians

Abstract

The District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) was established in 1993 to give the Metropolitan, Municipal andDistrict Assemblies (MMDAs) financial autonomy to actually make decisions locally. The DACF has since thenbecome an important tool for the achievement of fiscal decentralisation in particular and overall decentralisation ingeneral. Our study seeks to find out the impact of the DACF on the economic welfare of the people in Ghana with GaSouth as our focal point. Questionnaires, which were our main tool of gathering primary data were administered to atotal of hundred members of selected communities in the Ga South Municipal Assembly. Descriptive statistics,SPSS, Microsoft Excel were used to analyse data collected from the field. The analysis of data collected revealed thata large percentage of the local population are unaware of the uses of the DACF and thus are unable to insist on itseffective use. Also, it was gathered that the DACF meets the needs of the local population through theimplementation of developmental projects particularly the provision of educational facilities, health centres, securityand employment. There is therefore the need for community sensitisation about the DACF and its purposes. Also,more developmental projects should be undertaken in the communities to meet the basic needs of the growingpopulation.