A study by Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has revealed that many of the projects that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) promised under the $1 million per constituency initiative have not been implemented.
Research Analyst at CDD-Ghana, Gildfred Asiamah, said on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, that many of the projects could not be funded or supervised.
“It is not about the number of projects. It is about the impact. It appears that the government is taking on more than they can fund and supervise. They also don’t have the appropriate structure to ensure effective monitoring of these projects,” he said.
Mr Asiamah was speaking to GhanaWeb at a media event held to disseminate the findings of a research on the pro-poor projects earmarked under the $1 million per constituency initiative.
The initiative started as a campaign promise during the 2016 general elections but later became a key NPP government policy titled, ‘Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP).’
The CDD-Ghana study into the projects under the IPEP is part of the governance think tank’s ‘IPEP Tracker’, launched in 2017.
The ‘IPEP Tracker’ is essentially a project the think tank introduced to monitor the implementation of IPEP.
The overall goal of the IPEP Tracker project is to contribute to efforts to eliminate corruption by ensuring transparency and accountability in the implementation of the IPEP.
The findings of the tracker also revealed that many of the projects have stalled.
“I want to be more cautious about why the projects are stalled…but there are issues on the ground about the numerous works that some of these consultants and contractors have [been given]. Because they have numerous works, it becomes very difficult for them to keep an eye on all these projects. So, this is one key thing that we all have to look at.
“But I think the key issue that comes out is that you have the districts that are doing well actually running faster and the ones that are not doing well, you are not seeing the increased implementation or the fast-paced implementation, even though the vision was to ensure that the rural and deprived communities get the best out of this process,” Mr Asiamah said.
He urged the government to focus on the reason why the IPEP programme was introduced – to lift people from the poverty that they are in.
“So far as we are concerned to see the government moving gradually towards this. And if there are few projects that they can do, to get the needed impact at the local level, that is what the government needs to focus on,” he admonished.
The study was conducted in 20 of the 275 constituencies across the country.
