Local Economic Development in Ghana’s Local Governance System: The Cases of the Accra Metropolitan, Keta Municipal and Shai Odoku District Assemblies.

Abstract

The study sought to discuss the local economic development (LED) strategies, their beneficent outcomes, how the strategies were financed as well as the actors involved in the implementation process and the dynamics that shaped the process using the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Keta Municipal Assembly (KeMA) and Shai-Osudoku District Assembly (SODA) as case studies. The study employed the actor-oriented approach to development intervention as the theoretical framework. Using the triangulation and the multiple case study approaches of research design, the study drew a total sample size of 551 with 533 from the residents of the three Assemblies using the stratified sampling technique with the breakdown as follows: 178, 187 and 177 from the AMA, KeMA and SODA respectively and 18 respondents using the purposive sampling. These respondents were selected to solicit views on their roles as actors in the LED implementation process and to ascertain the extent to which LED impacted their lives. A number of findings came to light. First, the three Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) pursued strategies driven by their peculiar circumstances which resulted in the implementation of diverse LED strategies in some cases. However, there were some similarities in the LED strategies implemented by the three MMDAs. Second, the MMDAs’ sources of financing LED programmes could be classified into three main categories namely; inter-governmental transfers, donor or private sector funding and internally-generated funds, The ability of an MMDA to attract funds was largely determined by factors such as the strategic nature and category of the MMDA, its leadership, political and personal commitment of some top level staff to LED implementation, the available economic development incentives and the immediate returns that investors expected to gain from their investments. Third, the implementation of LED was shaped by the activities of various actors with different interests. The activities of the actors in the LED implementation process accounted for variation in the degree of success in the three MMDAs, which reinforces the politics of LED implementation. In addition, the actors’ involvement in the LED process hinges a lot on their capacity and resource endowment. Furthermore, the success of LED intervention depends on the willingness of the actors to collaborate with each other. Fourth, the local governance structures also influenced the LED implementation process, the extent of which depends on how the actors in the LED implementation process interacted with them (local structures). Fifth, the implementation of LED in the three MMDAs was shaped by the following dynamics: politics which took the form of political transition, political leadership, political recruitment, and micro politics; leadership, land tenure system, institutional, administrative and procedural issues. Sixth, the implementation of LED resulted in the following beneficent outcomes: employment opportunity creation, income generation, infrastructure provision and poverty reduction in the three MMDAs. However, the impact of LED on poverty reduction was limited to the households of LED participants. The implementation of LED was impeded by challenges such as limited funding, lack of institutional capacity, policy inconsistency, lack of political and leadership commitment and support to implement MMDA bye-laws, non-availability of land and the politicization of LED. Based on the findings, the study recommends the following: the harmonization of all poverty reduction related strategies with LED, the launching and immediate implementation of the National LED policy, the designation of a particular fund and earmarking of a certain percentage of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) for the implementation of LED as well as the formulation and implementation of a national policy aimed at joint land ownership between the MMDAs and traditional authorities for LED purposes, the adoption of change management strategies for the transformation and capacitation of the institutions and human resource at the MMDAs for effective LED implementation as well as popular participation to include the traditional authorities, community-based organisations (CBOs) and the private sector. Furthermore, economic development incentives in the MMDAs should be created, excessive politicization of LED programmes should be reduced and education and sensitization on LED programmes both at the national and local levels should be stepped up and coordinated. The most forceful lesson learnt is that actors are very important in the implementation process of LED and should therefore have the requisite capacity and resources in the right mix, at the right time and deployed for the right purpose. In addition, the actors should be willing to cooperate with each other in the entire LED process.