The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) is pushing to meet its annual financing needs, estimated at GH¢70million, as it joins four other Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembles (MMDAs) to implement COVID-19 Recovery Plans and Integrated Assembly Financing Frameworks (IAFFs) to build back better from the impact of COVID-19, and build resilience against local and external shocks.
The current shortfalls in the assembly’s annual financial needs stand at an average of 27 percent. These financing needs are reflected in the Medium-Term Development Plans (MTDP) and articulated with the vision “to become a safe, smart city and investment destination for both local and international investors”.
It added that Internally Generated Funds (IGF) remain the largest share of revenues – well above 50 percent for most of the review period of 2014 to 2019. This is expected to remain the same. “IGFs have increased consistently from 2014 to 2017, declining in 2018 due to the creation of some municipalities out of the eight sub-metropolitan councils.”
These emerged as the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supported five MMDAs to launch COVID-19 Recovery Plans and Integrated Assembly Financing Frameworks.
The assemblies are Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly, Ketu South Municipal Assembly, Sefwi Wiawso Municipal Assembly and Kassena Nankana West District Assembly.
Development of the COVID-19 Recovery Plans and the Integrated Assembly Financing Frameworks falls in line with objectives of the Ghana COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (Ghana CARES) programme.
The Ghana CARES Programme is government’s GH¢100billion comprehensive programme to mitigate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and return the country to a sustained path of robust growth.
Director-General of NDPC, Dr. Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa said: “Our response to COVID-19 is a strategic one, using cases of the most-affected to leverage ideas for responding to the national challenge. We have also placed the COVID-19 plans as part of the sustainable endeavour created by the Ghana CARES (Obaatanpa) programme. Indeed, the path created by this initiative is to ensure that we leave no one behind in the journey toward creating opportunities and prosperity for all Ghanaians”.
IAFFs provide concrete measures for mobilising the financing required to achieve the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The frameworks’ strategies comprise consolidating existing revenues, philanthropic financing, diaspora financing, and private-public-partnerships among others.
The bottom-up approach to delivering the Integrated National Financing Frameworks targets directly citizens at the local level of governance and puts SDGs at the heart of local government financing.
The Economic Advisor of UNDP Ghana, Frederick Mugisha, said the commencement of this initiative means Ghana is a pioneer country in implementing the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda for Financing Sustainable Development.
“This is commendable, because this effort consolidates various streams of financing the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs; and ensures stronger linkages between development strategies or plans on one hand and financing processes on the other.”
He noted that the UNDP will continue to support this effort and work as part of the entire United Nations System, “to bring our collective expertise, experience and resources to support the achievement of the SDGs in Ghana”.
