For two consecutive years, the Finance Ministry has not been able to meet the requirement to transfer 5.0% of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) to the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court of Ghana in the case of Kpodo and Another vs Attorney-General in 2019.

The 2022 Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) Annual Report which uncovered this is therefore urging the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to comply with the decision of the Supreme Court in the disbursement of funds to the DACF.

“In the disbursement of funds to the DACF, the Minister for Finance should comply with the decision of the Supreme Court of Ghana in the case of Kpodo and Another vs Attorney-General in 2019”.

Utilisation of Annual Budget Funding Amount

It also expressed concern about the little disbursement of the ABFA to the Industrialization Priority Area, saying the Industrialization Priority Area received an amount of about ¢9.29 million, representing 0.20% of the total ABFA of ¢4.41 billion.

“The Industrialization Priority Area received an amount of ¢9.29 million representing 0.20% of the total ABFA (¢4.41 billion).

“The disbursement which represents 4.29% of the amount budgeted (¢216.3 million) for the priority area for 2022 does not reflect giving priority to Industrialization in the use of ABFA.”

The report also indicated that an amount of ¢643.61 million ($73.68 million) was transferred to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) in 2022.

According to the Fund, the entire disbursement was used to support the Agenda 111 Project of the government.

This is the second year after 2021 that GIIF has received funds for the Agenda 111 Project. In 2021 an amount of ¢290.38 million (US$49.39 million) was allocated to the Fund.