Political Decentralization and Local Participation in Ghana: Perspectives from the Upper West Region

Abstract

The active participation of local people in development is the core of political decentralization. Drawing from both literature and empirical evidence from three districts in the Upper West region of Ghana, this paper examines the extent to which local people participate in District Assemblies’ activities through interviews and focus group discussions.

It concludes that there is less citizenship participation in the District Assembly concept than is expected. This is because of low awareness among citizens, the poor remuneration of Assembly persons and ill-resourcefulness of the Area Councils and the partisanship and appointment of 30% of assembly persons to the Assembly.

The paper recommends the creation of more awareness among the citizens, election of district chief executives by universal adult suffrage and the resourcing of the area or zonal councils.

Key Words: Ghana, Political Decentralization, Participation, District Assembly.