The Ho Central Member of Parliament, Benjamin Komla Kpodo, says government owes the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) over GH¢6 billion.
According to him, this is due to the delay in releasing funds by the Finance Ministry.
Speaking during a parliamentary session on the proposed formula for distributing the DACF for year 2024, the legislator said the Ministry of Finance’s failure to disburse the common fund quarterly violates the Constitution.
“The Ministry of Finance has been violating the Constitution. Article 252(2) clearly states that the disbursement should be done on a quarterly basis, which they were not doing. As we speak now, the Common Fund is owed some GH¢3.5 billion over the past two years.”
Mr. Kpodo, who is also a Deputy Ranking Member on the Local Government Committee of Parliament, added that “For 2023, the debt has again risen by another GH3 billion. So, I don’t know where the Ministry of Finance is keeping the money meant for the District Assembly Common Fund.”
But taking her turn, the Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei-Asare, explained that government is working on settling the Common Fund.
She added that while the arrears exist, the government has not violated any Supreme Court ruling regarding fund disbursement.
“I want to put on record that, Mr. Speaker, yes, we do owe the Common Fund some arrears, and we are working very hard to make sure we pay those sums of money. But I also want to put on record that we haven’t defaulted or that we haven’t gone against the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“That is a fact that I should put on the table. We have come to the Finance Committee to explain how we arrive at revenue numbers for DACF. So I just want to put it on the table that we haven’t gone against the ruling of the Supreme Court. But I want to assure the House that we will work together to make sure we clear any outstanding debt that we have with DACF,” he added.
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