The Effects of Political Geo-Re-Demarcation on the Internally Generated Funds (IGF) Of the Ga-East Municipal Assembly in Ghana

Abstract

District Assemblies across the whole nation continue to face increasing developmental demands from their various areas of jurisdiction. However, in the midst of the increasing demands is the challenge of mobilizing local revenue as many people are unwilling to pay tax. District Assemblies continue to face financial challenges as the volume of IGF generated is far below the needed capacity to harness the desired level of growth. This in effect has affected the DAs ability to meet their developmental obligations. The situation become far worse when the government, through Local Government Act 1993 (Act 462) create districts out of existing ones due to increasing population. Often times, districts are created without much recognition to the economic strength of the people This study sought to examine the effect of re-demarcation on assemblies on IGF mobilization in Ga-East Municipality which was created in mid-2012. Both qualitative and quantitative instruments were used where questionnaires were administered to 175 organized groups and four officials were interviewed. The research was to examine the sources of IGF before and after re-demarcation, the efficiency in IGF mobilization and the opportunities in improving IGF mobilization. The findings revealed that the sources of revenue before and after re-demarcation have not changed. However, the volume of revenue has rather reduced due to the reduction in the size of the district. The efficiency level after the re-demarcation has rather seen enormous improvement as compared to periods before the re-demarcation. There is however some logistics challenges that continues to confront the assembly. In the midst of the increasing challenges, the Assembly continues to experience infrastructural development as well as increase in population among others, which it can take advantage of to increase its IGF base