Accra-Ghana, Sept. 29, GNA – The German Development Cooperation (GIZ) has held a national close-out event to officially mark the end of the Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) Programme with a call on Ghana to sustain the great legacies.
The GovID project supports reforms that aim to improve tax policy and tax administration, make budgeting more transparent and reliable, and promote the inclusion of disadvantaged population groups.
The four-year programme, with the slogan “Invest More – Invest More” sought to support national and subnational institutions in Ghana to finance inclusive development.
The programme at the end of the period has created a strong collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Revenue Authority to develop the new Transfer Pricing Regulation and Excise Tax Stamp Policy, which prevents tax evasion by the private sector.
It has made progress in drafting key policies, including the Environmental Fiscal Reform Policy, the updated Double Taxation Agreement Policy, and the Policy for Taxation of High-Net-Worth Individuals.
The programme had accountability mechanisms strengthened, indicating that in 2018, only 58 per cent of the audit recommendations were implemented in partnership with the Metropolitan Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs), but in 2022 the number had increased to 85 per cent, reflecting significant improvement in audit functionality.
In collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission, the preparation of the Medium-Term Development Plans was made more inclusive through pieces of training on Vulnerability Profiling and the development of a gender toolkit.
This saw the role of gender desk officers within the MMDAs institutionalized.
Through the introduction of the district-level revenue application (dLRev), the internally generated funds for all 100 MMDAs were on an average of 25 per cent higher than in 2018.
The programme also facilitated 21 dialogue sessions between agribusinesses and selected partner districts, which resulted in 26 initiatives to improve the local competitiveness.
The GovID programme was inaugurated in October 2019 by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, co-financed by the Swiss and British governments, and has been working closely with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development in Ghana.
It was implemented in the Middle Zone – Ashanti, Western North, Ahafo, Bono, and Bono East Regions.
Dr John Kumah, the Deputy Minister of Finance, expressed gratitude for the productive partnership with GovID, which had contributed to improved institutional capacity, transparency, and effective public service delivery.
He assured GIZ that the ministry would work assiduously to sustain the great legacies, lessons and good practices carved by the programme.
Her Excellency Simone Giger, the Ambassador of Switzerland, speaking on the significance of the programme, urged the government to take ownership of the journey started, for the full benefit of the country.
His Excellency Daniel Krull, the German Ambassador to Ghana, thanked all the stakeholders who worked on the project to its successful end, and called for urgent financing at the municipal level to enable them to deliver in the coming months.
Mr Raphael Frerking, the Programmes Manager of GovID – GIZ, also thanked all stakeholders for their hard work, and vision, for the continued partnership.
“I can say with confidence, that the programme has made great progress in achieving its objective of financing inclusive development in Ghana,” he added.
“All 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana are benefiting from enhanced data for decision-making as District Development Data Platform (DDDP) has been rolled out in all the MMDAs nationwide and is now the standard tool for data-based monitoring of the SDGs in Ghana,” Mr Frerking said.
He said DDDP had been further developed to be utilized for performance assessment within DPAT, which will allow for a more transparent process and subsequently fair distribution of the District Assemblies Common Fund.
Mr Frerking, however, assured that the DDDP would be further supported by GIZ to be fully utilised as a tool for planning and informed decision-making of the MMDAs.
