District Substructures as Agents of Local Governance

The objective study assessed the performance of the East Mamprusi district substructures by examining citizen's participation in local activities and resource capacity of the Town and Area councils. The district substructures are required to enhance political participation processes of political decision-making and socio-economic development at the local levels. Moreover, participation is a key element of effective popular control over government. It is explicitly stated in the Constitution that "popular local participation in local decision-making" is an objective of decentralization in Ghana [Article 240(2)] 1992. The methodology of the research was based on literature review and data collection on the performance of sub-district structures in the decentralisation process in Ghana. Data was analyze to describe the phenomenon. Inability of Town and Area Council and Unit Committees members to read and write, lack of motivation, Insufficient funding to support the activities of the sub-district structures and inadequate logistics to carry out their duties were some of the findings of the study. The study recommended building the capacity of the substructures to stimulate performance