The Parliamentary Centre in Ghana

Parliament Assures Pro-poor Policy Implementation

Women’s group interacts with the Committee

The Ghana Parliamentary Select Committee on Government Assurances followed-up on three key pro-poor policies in the most deprived Northern Regions of Ghana. The visit forms part of Parliamentary-Community Outreachinitiative of the CIDA funded Ghana Parliamentary Committee Support Project Phase Two (GPCSPII), in partnership with the Institute for Policy Alternatives (IPA) based in Tamale, as part of which targeted parliamentary Committees are supported to embark on field-level parliament-community interaction with rural communities and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as part of parliamentary oversight of the implementation of Government Policies and Programmes under the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS).During the 4-day field visit (8-11 th July, 2005) twelve (12) members of the Committee led by the Chairman of the Committee Hon. Ishmael Ashitey interacted with three rural farming communities, officials of service agencies, and CSOs working in the various communities.

The visit was to provide the MPs with first-hand knowledge on the impact of three Government policies on specified vulnerable people: Health Exemption, Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) and the Community Water and Sanitation (CWSA) programme. In particular, the MPs investigated the communities’ experiences regarding the following provisions of the policies and programmes:

• Free medical services for prenatal attendants, the aged and children under five years old;
• Free basic education for all pupils; and
• Provision of portable water & sanitation facilities to guinea worm endemic rural communities in Ghana.

To appreciate the communities’ experiences regarding the impacts of the policies, the MPs held separate meetings on the implementation of these policies with the respective service agencies and heard views from three CSOs working on these themes in the communities. The MPs then interacted with the communities of Jantong-Danshie, near Tamale in the Northern Region, Lungu in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region and Boli, a farming community near Wa in the Upper West Region. In an open forum at each of the villages members of the community shared their experiences on the quality and problems of service delivery since the implementation of the policies. A significant observation in these interactions was the high quality of participation by all segments of the communities notably women and the elderly.

Abdulai Salifu, CWSA official explains constraints to project delivery

A markedly bi-partisan plenary session yielded a number of interesting findings and recommendations for the Committee to follow-up with the respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). The visit achieved number of benefits, including continued improvement in bi-partisan working culture. It also provided the communities opportunity to make inputs in national policy review. The exercise fostered invaluable parliament-citizen engagement process for effective poverty reduction efforts by parliament. The outreach has thus promoted parliamentary efforts for accountability, transparency and participation in national governance and resource allocation. And for some of the MPs, the visit afforded them a first hand appreciation of the developmental opportunities and constraints of the three Northern regions which will certainly inform their work in parliament.