The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has been ranked first in Greater Accra and among the entire 216 districts across the country, in terms of development. The metropolis scored 76.6 points on the latest 2015 District League Table released by the Centre for Democratic Development, CDD-Ghana.

The league table measured development across the various districts in terms of sanitation, water delivery, security, among others.

The survey aims to strengthen social accountability in order to improve responsiveness in service delivery.

Speaking to Class News’ Nabil Ahmed Rufai, Dr Franklin Oduro, Head of Research, CDD, said the league table was to help create opportunities for districts and governments to get a sense of where there is a shortfall in terms of research allocation and how research can be allocated properly in a manner that will ensure equity.

He, however, said all 216 districts scored zero in sanitation because the Ministry of Local Government’s Environmental and Sanitation department had not verified any district as defecation-free, although some districts were arguing that they have made some efforts “so we should commend them”.

“I think this is something we will look into and find a better approach in calculating those that are doing well, so, next time we can showcase some of those,” adding that the league table will also help create space and opportunities for citizens and duty bearers to have a conversation on the levels of development.

Festus Ankrah, Head of Education and Research at policy think tank Imani Ghana, in a separate interview, said the whole process had to do with social accountability.

In his view, the district league rankings helped citizens to know what was going on in the district.

“If my district is last, I need to find out what is the district doing that is not right, so, I can go to the district and propose ideas. So, the whole idea is to promote citizen engagement and then social accountability,” he stressed.

“We will all be happy that when you go to every district, there would be toilet facilities, police stations equitably distributed for everybody to use…the only thing is to encourage the debate, so, we can get efficient results out of it,” he added.