Minority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh has accused the government of breaching the Constitution following the release of the 2025 District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) guidelines.
Addressing a press briefing, he argued that the new guidelines conflict with the formula approved by Parliament under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution.
According to him, the parliamentary formula was carefully developed using empirical indicators such as equality components, needs-based factors and service pressure data to ensure fair distribution of funds among the 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.
He contended that the ministerial guidelines introduce fixed national percentages for selected projects that are not captured in the approved formula.
“This is not interpretation; this is substitution,” he said, describing the development as constitutionally questionable.
The Minority Chief Whip also pointed to what he called a troubling gap between disbursements to the District Assemblies Common Fund and transfers to other statutory funds such as GETFund and the National Health Insurance Fund.
He maintained that while those funds have received significant releases, DACF allocations continue to face arrears and delays.
He referenced a 2019 Supreme Court decision in the case of Benjamin Komla Kpodo & Richard Quashigah v. Attorney-General, which ruled that DACF allocations cannot be capped below five per cent of total national revenue.
“We cannot preach decentralisation and practise fiscal centralisation,” he stated.
Annoh-Dompreh called for immediate corrective steps, including an automatic computation mechanism to guarantee compliance with the constitutional threshold, insisting the Minority will sustain its oversight to protect decentralisation and fiscal accountability.
