An evaluation of the effectiveness of the disbursement and utilization of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) in the Gomoa East district

Abstract

The study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the disbursement and utilization of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) in the Gomoa East District Assembly. A sample size of 273 was used for the study. The study employed both primary and secondary data. The study revealed the following as its major findings: That the administrator of the DACF is primarily responsible for the effective monitoring of the disbursement and utilization of the DACF through its demand of DACF budgets and reports from the MMDAs, that stakeholders are largely involved in the selection of DACF funded projects, that community members have adequate knowledge about the fund but are generally not satisfied with projects funded by the DACF, citing the delays in the release of the fund as a major setback in the successful execution of DACF projects, that over the years, the DACF has led to improvement in the social and economic infrastructure in the district and finally, that the DACF is characterized by too many deductions at source by the central government. The study concludes that the fund has indeed improved the socio-economic infrastructure and lives of the citizens in the district. However, the delays and the shortfalls between projected and actual allocations stalls some projects and prevent others from being realized. Consequently, the study recommends that the DACF should be released on time to enable MMDA’s to execute their projects and programs on time.