WA, June 22, GNA - Some district assemblies in the Upper West Region have resorted to borrowing from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to complete HIPC projects as a result of the irregular inflow of HIPC funds. This development has negatively affected the ability of the district assemblies to plan, implement and carry out timely and objective monitoring of projects These were some of the key issues that came out of a report from the monitoring and evaluation of projects under the Ghana HIPC Watch Project in the Upper West Region and made known at a one-day workshop at Wa organized by SEND Foundation, an NGO.

The participants were drawn from the Municipal and District assemblies in the region and representatives of relevant civil society organizations and members of the District HIPC Watch committees. In the report, which covered the Wa Municipality, Nadowli, Jirapa/Lambussie, Lawra and Sissala East districts, it came out that none of these assemblies had received any HIPC funds from the central government from January to June.

Only Sissala East and the new district of Sissala West received 360 million cedis each as outstanding payments for the last quarter of 2006. Alhaji Issahaku Alhassan, the Deputy Regional Coordinating Director, said although releases from the central government were not enough to meet the development needs of the district assemblies, they must also assess how they used the little funds that came into their treasuries. He threw a number of challenges to the assemblies such as harnessing the revenue potential of sheanuts for internal revenue generation and using part of their funds to fight high infant mortality in the region, instead of their over concentration on construction projects.

Mr John Nkor, Programme Officer of SEND Foundation, said the workshop served as a platform for policy makers and CSO to engage in dialogue to improve the quality of implementing government policies by service providers at the community level. He said they were not out to find fault with public office holders but rather to communicate the development needs and aspirations of the people whom they have been appointed to serve.