The government has released GH₵25 million to the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs (MLGCRA) as the first tranche of a GH₵100 million allocation meant to pay monthly consolidated allowances to Assembly Members across the country.
As of Monday, July 14, 2025, the Ministry has transferred a total amount of GH₵ 23,621,000, representing allowances for April and May, to all Assembly Members.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Ahmed Ibrahim, the Minister for MLGCRA, said pursuant to the “Resetting Ghana Agenda,” the government allocated GH₵100 million in its 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy (Pg. 73, Section 395) to pay monthly consolidated allowances to all Assembly Members.
He said to fulfil this, the ministry on June 12, 2025, requested the Ministry of Finance to release the GH₵100 million to enable it to transfer the funds to all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) for the payment of the monthly consolidated allowances. For that reason, the first tranche had been delivered.
The Minister said the objective was to enhance their capacities and to equip them with financial resources and logistics to deepen monitoring of all government projects and programmes being implemented within their electoral areas.
He said Ghana’s decentralisation agenda was designed to transfer power, responsibilities, and resources to local authorities, especially the sub-district structures, to enable citizenry at the grassroots to participate in decision-making and improve service delivery.
However, Mr. Ibrahim said over the years, this noble agenda had faced a myriad of challenges, wherein in the recent past, Ghana had experienced re-centralisation of resources at the centre, and this negatively impacted the performance of the MMDAs.
“To reverse this trend, President Mahama committed to transferring 80 per cent of the District Assembly Common Fund to all MMDAs. This policy is being implemented as we speak,” he added.
The Minister said the “Resetting Ghana Agenda” on Local Governance and Decentralisation boded well with this significant step of transferring resources to local governments and Assembly Members.
“We shall continue to deliver and ensure adequate transfer of resources and logistics to the MMDAs to facilitate effective and efficient service delivery to the people,” the Minister stressed.
GNA