It is a familiar scene in communities across Ghana: a crater-sized pothole renders a road impassable, a school building stands roofless, or a community clinic operates without a reliable water source. The ensuing public anger invariably seeks a target, and the question is shouted at town hall meetings and debated on local radio: “What is our Member of Parliament doing?” Conversely, when a project is successfully completed, the MP is often first to cut the ribbon, their face emblazoned on the plaque, leaving many to wonder about the role of the actual local government – the Metropolitan, Municipal, or District Assembly (MMDA).
This confusion is more than a simple misunderstanding; it is a fundamental flaw in our civic discourse that undermines accountability and hampers effective development. The persistent blurring of lines between the roles of the MP and the MMDAs has created a democratic deficit where citizens hold the wrong people accountable, and the truly responsible bodies operate in a shadow of impunity.
It is time to set the record straight. The primary constitutional and legal responsibility for providing infrastructural development in a community lies with the Metropolitan, Municipal, or District Assembly. The Member of Parliament plays a crucial, but distinctly different, role as a legislator and an advocate. Understanding this distinction is the first step toward demanding better governance.
The Assembly is the Engine of Local Development. The MMDAs are not mere administrative units; they are the cornerstone of Ghana’s decentralized governance system, empowered by the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936). They are, in essence, the local government with a direct mandate for development.
Their responsibilities are clear and comprehensive:
- Planning and Budgeting: The Assembly is the central planning authority for the district. Through a process of community consultation, it develops Medium-Term Development Plans that identify priorities—whether it’s a new market stall, a critical bridge, or classroom blocks. It then prepares an annual budget to fund these priorities, drawing from three key sources: its share of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), Internally Generated Funds (like rates and fees), and grants from the central government.
- Implementation and Maintenance: The Assembly has the technical departments—the Works Department, the Physical Planning Department, and others—responsible for designing, contracting, and supervising projects. When a contractor is on site building a drain or grading a road, they are ultimately answerable to the Assembly’s Engineer or the District Chief Executive (DCE), not the MP.
- Legal Mandate: The Assembly’s authority is not discretionary. It is legally mandated to ensure the development, economic growth, and provision of basic services within its area.
In short, if you want to know why a planned project in your community has stalled, the first port of call should be the Assembly Hall, not the MP’s office.
The Member of Parliament is the Legislator and Advocate.
The MP’s role is defined by the national Constitution. Their primary function is to be a lawmaker in Parliament, contributing to national legislation and oversight. They are part of the Legislative arm of government, not the Executive arm that implements projects.
So, where does the MP fit into local development? Their role is primarily twofold:
- Advocacy and Lobbying: A good MP is a powerful voice for their constituency in the halls of national power. They lobby sector ministries—for instance, the Ministry of Roads and Highways for a major trunk road or the Ministry of Education for a new senior high school—to include their constituency’s needs in national budgets. They also advocate to the Assembly, pushing for their constituents’ priorities to be reflected in the district plan.
- The MP’s Common Fund: This is the most significant source of confusion. A portion of the DACF is allocated directly to each MP for development projects in their constituency. However, and this is critical, the MP does not execute these projects. The MP identifies and proposes projects, but the funds are managed and the projects are implemented by the very same MMDA. The MP’s role is to monitor the implementation, not to manage it.
The Consequences of Confusion and the Path to Clarity
This role confusion is not benign. It has serious consequences:
The role confusion creates Misplaced Accountability. When citizens solely blame their MP for a localized infrastructure failure, they let the Assembly—the DCE, the Works Department, the tender committee—off the hook. This allows underperformance and sometimes outright incompetence at the local level to go unchecked.
The role confusion also allows for Political Showmanship: The system encourages MPs to claim credit for projects funded by the Assembly’s budget, perpetuating the myth that they are the primary providers. This turns development into a political football rather than a continuous, institutional process.
Yet again, the role confusion leads to Ineffective Citizen Engagement. When citizens do not know who is truly responsible, their advocacy is weakened. They petition the wrong authority and become disillusioned when their efforts yield no results.
To break this cycle, we need a collective effort:
Civic Education must be deepened. Media and civil society organizations must lead a campaign to clearly explain the distinct roles of the MP and the MMDA. We need simple, clear messaging: “Your Assembly builds your roads; your MP helps lobby for them.”
We should demand accountability from the right place. Citizens must actively engage with their Assembly members and the DCE. Attend town hall meetings, examine the district development plan, and demand answers for delayed projects directly from the local government structure.
We must also expect the right role from our MPs: Instead of expecting the MP to be a project contractor, judge them on their effectiveness in national legislation, their advocacy in Parliament for national resources, and their oversight of the Assembly’s use of funds, including their own Common Fund allocation.
The development of our communities is too important to be lost in a blame game fueled by institutional ignorance. The Assembly is the engine of local development; the MP is a vital spark plug and a navigator. It is only when we understand how these parts are meant to work together—and hold each to its own standard—that we can truly get our communities moving on the right path