Abdul – Razak Yakah
Municipal Coordinating Director
Nanumba North Municipal Assembly
Abstract
This paper examines the extent to which local people in the Nanumba North Municipality participate in the Municipal Assembly’s activities using interviews and focus group discussions. In Ghana, political decentralisation has been ongoing since the 1980s, aiming to promote local participation in decision-making and improve service delivery at the local level. The decentralisation policy in Ghana is implemented through the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936), which established local government structures at the district, municipal, and metropolitan levels. These structures provide essential services such as sanitation, health, education, and infrastructure. The active participation of the local people in development is at the core of political decentralisation. This paper concludes that there is less citizenship participation at the Municipal Assembly than is expected. This is because of low awareness among citizens, poor remuneration of Assembly persons, no resources for the Area Councils, partisanship and appointment of 30% of assembly persons to the Assembly. The paper recommends the creation of more awareness among the citizens, the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District chief executives by universal adult suffrage and the resourcing of the area and zonal councils.
Keywords: Ghana, Political Decentralization, Participation, Municipal Assembly
