The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu in the Volta Region, Okudzeto Ablakwa, has advocated a review of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) with regards to the allocation of Members of Parliament to keep the Executive in check and reduce constant demands by constituents.
“Our constituents see the role of the Member of Parliament as bringing home development projects such as roads, hospitals, schools among others, MPs’ common fund is woefully inadequate, it cannot deliver what is needed.
“I hold the view that we need to overhaul the entire constitutional architecture we are operating now and opt for strict separation of powers because Parliament is increasingly becoming weaker and weaker and the Executive is really getting away with so much.
“That is why I am calling for a second look at the MPs’ Common Fund because we are
considered in the allocation of the common fund, we usually choose a project to be constructed on our behalf by our respective metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies with the amount allocated to them in the releases of the fund,” Mr Ablakwa stressed.
However, some Members of Parliament recently also advocated for the scrapping of the MPs share of the District Assembly Common Fund and indicated that the move will give more power and resources to the Metropolitan Municipal District Assemblies ( MMDCEs) to execute their mandate.
Franklin Cudjoe, the Executive Director of IMANI Africa, a think tank asked the government to discontinue the disbursement of MPs’ share of the District Assembly Common Fund because he claimed it was a waste of money and an excuse for the MP to perpetuate himself/herself in power but not necessarily to do the most important job which is making laws.
Some Presiding Members of some metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies also descended on parliamentarians for allegedly misapplying the District Assembly Common Fund. –citinewsroom.com
