Performance of the Sekyere Kumawu District Assembly from the communities’ perspective

Abstract

The Government of Ghana in 2008 introduced a Performance Based Grant System (PBG) called the District Development Facility (DDF) as part of its efforts to improve the performance of District Assemblies. The research sought to assess the Assemblies overall performance, the most performed and the least performed sectors of the Assemblies, the sectors that the respondents think the Assemblies should direct their investment to and the factors that hinder community involvement in the assessment of the Assemblies, using the Sekyere Kumawu District Assembly as a reference point. The research employed the random and convenient sampling techniques to collect data from 396 respondents on their opinion of the performance of the Assembly. The research found that the general performance of the Assembly was average with 67.4 percent. The Assembly’s most performed sector was agriculture recording 59.3 percent, with the communication sector being the least with 29 percent. The results revealed that the community thinks the Assembly should focus its attention on water, education and health sectors even though the Assembly performed well in those sectors. The community also proposed regular community meetings and sensitization of the community on the assessment process of the Assembly as measures to ensure their involvement in the assessment process. In conclusion, it is evident from the findings that the community disagrees with the Assembly’s performance under the FOAT Assessment. While the FOAT scored the Assembly as high as over 96 percent, the Community gave the Assembly only a little above average (67.4%). Recommendations have therefore been made to the District Assembly and responsible institutions to involve the communities in subsequent assessment of the Assemblies.