The Local Government and Rural Development Committee of Parliament has issued a stern warning to Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) across the country to stay off monies meant for Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs).
Expenditure of the portion of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) meant for PWDs by some assemblies was one of the major queries raised in the 2024 internal audit reports currently being reviewed by the parliamentary committee.
Chairperson of the Committee, Queenstar Maame Pokuah Sawyerr, issued the caution on Thursday, October 9, 2025, during a public hearing, noting that some assemblies had spent the PWDs’ share of the fund with the excuse that they were borrowing and would later replace it.
“The monies meant for PWDs, the excuse they give is that, they are borrowing it and then, they will replace it later. Whether they replace it or not, nobody knows. But honestly, I don’t believe they put it back into their accounts, but why am passionate about this is that, any of us can become disabled anytime, any minute,” she said
The Agona East lawmaker said the reasons given by the assemblies do not hold water and called for stronger protection of PWDs. She assured that from 2026, her committee would take stringent action against any official found culpable.
“The excuses and the reasons, for me honestly doesn’t make sense. That’s why we as a committee, we are being very very passionate about it that, if we God willing next year (2026), if we sit again and we find that anybody has done that, we are going to be very hard on the person and make sure whether it’s the finance officer or the coordinating director or the Chief Executive Officer, we are going to make sure action is taken against that person because this is just not right,” she warned.
She also condemned the practice where some assemblies procure items for PWDs without their prior consent, stressing that the committee would not tolerate such conduct going forward.
Hon. Pokuah Sawyerr attributed the issue partly to weak supervision at the assembly level, despite the existence of clear guidelines on the utilization of funds meant for PWDs.
She disclosed that the committee has identified some districts facing significant challenges and plans to visit them to help resolve the issues as part of government’s Reset Agenda to accelerate local development.
On what differentiates the current dispensation from previous ones, Madam Sawyerr explained that the new approach reflects a deepening of the country’s decentralisation system, where MMDCEs have been entrusted with substantial resources.
This, she said, demands greater parliamentary oversight and monitoring to ensure that the assemblies deliver development outcomes that directly benefit their people.
By: Christian Kpesese
