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Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana

Decentralization of governance across the globe, especially in sub-Saharan Africa was precipitated by the need to ensure the participation of the citizenry in the development planning and implementation at the local level. This is to ensure that local problems are identified by those affected and re...

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Autores principales: Dzakaklo, Theophilius Kodzo, Hlovor, Ishmael Kwabla, Dah, Frederick Kwasi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10428043/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37593606
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18900
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author Dzakaklo, Theophilius Kodzo
Hlovor, Ishmael Kwabla
Dah, Frederick Kwasi
author_facet Dzakaklo, Theophilius Kodzo
Hlovor, Ishmael Kwabla
Dah, Frederick Kwasi
author_sort Dzakaklo, Theophilius Kodzo
collection PubMed
description Decentralization of governance across the globe, especially in sub-Saharan Africa was precipitated by the need to ensure the participation of the citizenry in the development planning and implementation at the local level. This is to ensure that local problems are identified by those affected and remedied through policies formulated through the participation of the citizenry at the local level. In line with this, subnational government authorities were created at the local level to ensure effective local government administration. Against this backdrop, this study investigated the challenges hindering the active participation of the citizenry in local governance in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region of Ghana. A qualitative research design was adopted. The study purposively selected thirty-five (35) participants in the study area for the purposes of its primary data collection through interviews. This study investigated the fact that citizens were expected to participate in local governance through community engagement forums, budgeting, and financial planning, medium-term development planning, preparation of annual action plans, and participation in district level elections. The results of the study showed that low participation of the citizenry in local government is attributable to citizens’ lack of information and education on the need for local-level participation, inadequate political structures of the Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies, and inadequate resources at the local government level. To ensure and promote the active participation of the citizenry at the local level, there is the need to educate the citizenry, and ensure that there are adequate and sufficient resources at the local level.
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spelling pubmed-104280432023-08-17 Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana Dzakaklo, Theophilius Kodzo Hlovor, Ishmael Kwabla Dah, Frederick Kwasi Heliyon Research Article Decentralization of governance across the globe, especially in sub-Saharan Africa was precipitated by the need to ensure the participation of the citizenry in the development planning and implementation at the local level. This is to ensure that local problems are identified by those affected and remedied through policies formulated through the participation of the citizenry at the local level. In line with this, subnational government authorities were created at the local level to ensure effective local government administration. Against this backdrop, this study investigated the challenges hindering the active participation of the citizenry in local governance in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region of Ghana. A qualitative research design was adopted. The study purposively selected thirty-five (35) participants in the study area for the purposes of its primary data collection through interviews. This study investigated the fact that citizens were expected to participate in local governance through community engagement forums, budgeting, and financial planning, medium-term development planning, preparation of annual action plans, and participation in district level elections. The results of the study showed that low participation of the citizenry in local government is attributable to citizens’ lack of information and education on the need for local-level participation, inadequate political structures of the Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies, and inadequate resources at the local government level. To ensure and promote the active participation of the citizenry at the local level, there is the need to educate the citizenry, and ensure that there are adequate and sufficient resources at the local level. Elsevier 2023-08-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10428043/ /pubmed/37593606 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18900 Text en © 2023 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Research Article
Dzakaklo, Theophilius Kodzo
Hlovor, Ishmael Kwabla
Dah, Frederick Kwasi
Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana
title Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana
title_full Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana
title_fullStr Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana
title_short Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana
title_sort unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the ketu south municipality of ghana
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10428043/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37593606
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18900
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