Abstract:

Decentralisation has been one of the most touted development agenda in the past few decades. Its implementation has been fraught with challenges and lapses that have in a sense been perceived as lack of political will and as the lack of capacity of government as well as the human and physical resource availability at decentralized levels, leading to gaps between policy expectations and practices. Using interviews and focus group discussions this paper explores the causes of the slow implementation of the decentralization agenda in Ghana since 1987 from the perspectives of key stakeholders. Findings indicate that there are multiplicity of factors that have resulted in the slow process of implementation. These include lack of long-term planning and development agenda, politicisation of the district assembly system, limited political space at the local level and the absence of long-term strategy for local capacity development. The paper further agues that the focus of the decentralization agenda has been more on the structures and less on empowering communities and districts to assume the new role of active participation in local governance and decision-making. The paper concludes that without a more long-term multi-sectoral approach and strategies devoid of political colouration the goals of decentralization may be far-fetched.

Keywords:

Decentralisation, Policy, Capacity, Political Will, Multi-Sectoral Approach.