Civil society organisations (CSOs) have recommended the immediate increase of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) from the current 7.5 per cent to about 20 per cent. They pointed out that other African countries such as Uganda that began decentralising much later than Ghana had made gains by increasing funds from the central government to local authorities from 11 per cent in 1996 to 19.9 per cent in 1999. These and other wide-ranging proposals, including the clear separation of powers between district chief executives (DCEs) and presiding member (PMs), as well as the clear distinction of legislative, administrative and political functions at the district level, will be laid at a national consultative forum on decentralisation reforms today. At a meeting in Akosombo, organised by the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), with support from the United Nations Development Prograrnme (UNDP), IBIS, the European Union, CSOs lobbying on decentralisation, poverty reduction and civic awareness, agreed that there was the need for a common development plan and accountability framework for such local non-governmental actors to enhance decentralisation. Opening the meeting at Akosombo, Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, the Executive Director of IDEG, said there was the need to question ideas on the review of decentralisation that had so far emanated from, district and regional consultations. The meeting, he added, was for CSOs to form a common and coherent position on reforms to enhance decentralisation. Representatives of CSOs in local governance, growth and poverty reduction and civic awareness, in coalitions such as the Local Governance Network (LoGNET), the Growth and Poverty Forum (GPF) and the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI), discussed whether the position of DCEs should be an elective or appointed one, the structures of the district assembly system, the relationship between DCEs and the President if the former were elected by popular suffrage in the district and' how the principles of functional local governance, participation and inclusiveness prescribed by the Constitution could be enhanced. A study conducted by IDEG, which formed the basis of the discussions, showed that there was consensus for changes to be made in the decentralisation process. The forum decided that the position of DCEs must be elective. However, mechanisms of accountability to the people needed to be strengthened to avoid the patronage system that a presidential appointment introduced in local governance. They proposed elected DCEs, competent and accountable to the people but with the capacity to appoint, within the structures of the local government service, the requisite skills to implement development programmes with strong institutions such as the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the regional co-ordinating councils (RCCs) to exercise oversight responsibilities. The meeting also proposed the strengthening of the powers of Presiding Members (PMs) and the assemblies, including their basic units, for participation and inclusiveness in development. It decided that the administrative functions of the DCE had to be taken and given to the district co-ordinating director (DCD), while the District Planning Co-ordinating units should report to the DCE, instead of the RCC. They said the executive committee, made up of all the heads of committees in the assembly, should function under the leadership of the PM, but with the appropriate links to the DCE and his administration. Some of the proposals are for the roles of various groups at the local level of governance, such as traditional authorities, civil society groups, including non-governmental organisations, to be properly defined, recognised and linked to decentralisation processes to enhance the process. They said at the inception of local governance in the country in the 1990s, the enabling legal framework, such as the Constitution and the Local Government Act 462, did not recognise such groups and wanted that to be corrected. Source: Daily Graphic