General Decentralization Policy Ghana’s decentralization policy was successful in bringing government closer to the people. District assembly members—described by one respondent as “doorstep politicians”—are highly accessible to their community members. They receive almost no remuneration even though they often work full time in fulfilling their duties. The role the district assembly members can play with respect to the district administration and the district chief executive and his executive committee is limited, however. District assembly members describe themselves as a “glorified beggars,” because they have to “beg” the district administration and other governmental and nongovernmental agencies to implement projects. Although the district assembly ultimately votes on the budget, assembly members do not control resources and programs as gram panchayat members do in India. Moreover, in the absence of a reservation policy, the number of female district assembly members is low. A variety of strategies can be considered to address these challenges. Empowering district assembly members. Several approaches could be used to empower district assembly members: ■
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Increasing the share of discretionary district-level resources that are not earmarked for or tied to specific programs would broaden the role district assembly members can play with respect to the district administration. Providing assembly members with dedicated office space at the district assembly and increasing their travel allowances would facilitate closer interaction with the district administration. Paying them salaries is also an option, although the effects of such a strategy need to be carefully assessed. (It could reduce the possibility of attracting intrinsically motivated candidates.) Although the resource requirements for realizing these suggestions are significant, these options should at least be taken into account in policy debates over how to strengthen the local government system. Providing more training to district assembly members, with the aim of improving their capacity to deal effectively with the district administration, could strengthen their role, too.
Increasing the share of female district assembly members. The following strategies may be considered to reach this goal: ■
Cross-country evidence indicates that instituting a quota or reservation system would be the most effective way of increasing the share of female district assembly members (Horowitz 2009). Doing so requires a sovereign political decision that only the Ghanaian people and their political representatives can make.
IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND RESEARCH
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