Donors call on Ghanaians to hold them accountable

Donors call on Ghanaians to hold them accountable

By Isabella Gyau Orhin


Ghana‘s development partners have asked the people of Ghana to hold them accountable if they fail to deliver on their services and obligations to the country.
Speaking at the 13th Consultative Group Meeting in Accra Last Wednesday, the representative of the Department for International Development (DFID) Mike Hammond said the government can also hold the donors accountable on their service delivery while civil society can also hold both and government and the donors accountable..
According to him, reducing poverty and promoting human development is the core of development assistance.
This year’s meeting had mutual accountability as one of the key areas of concern for both donors and government.
Indeed a communiqué issued at the end of the one day meeting stated that mutual accountability based on dialogue and focused on a partnership for shared growth is necessary to ensure effective resource flows.
This according to the communiqué will help the country reach a middle income status and also achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within a decade.
But these statements are also at the background of Ghana’s castigation of donors that processing of assistance takes too long to mature.
The Minister of Finance Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu was the first to complain at the conference.
His beef was that processing of donor funds takes too long. “From identification to implementation, sometimes it takes about 38 months,” he bemoaned.
“All of us can benefit from the improved services, both on the donor side and on the recipients side,” he said adding, “We are not blaming anybody,”
Baah-Wiredu also explained further that the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) takes about two to three years to process aid.
When the President John Kufuor took his turn to speak at the conference, he also reechoed the same sentiment. “We all need to do something about the time,” he said. The President also poured out his heart to the donors as if assistance has not been adequate.
“We have implemented some very harsh programmes,” he said citing the petroleum deregulation as an example. The President did not mince words in putting the deregulation at the doorstep of the donors.
According to him, government was “forced” to deregulate with promptings from development partners.
The President who appeared desperate said ordinarily this should have caused a huge political upheaval but the people of Ghana understood even though they keep grumbling.
“We see the problem so keenly so that you need to help us,” the President pleaded.
He also lamented on the spate of agitation for salary increment which had led to strikes in the country. We are all are of what is happening in the country, he said.
According to him, paying medical consultants 4,000 dollars is not too much since their compatriots may be drawing thousands of dollars elsewhere.
The President also said the salaries of teachers, nurses, and the police are all on the low side and all these are threatening to spark off more agitations.
On further loans and their implications, the president said although the country will not borrow indiscriminately, it will borrow if it becomes necessary.

We will go in for self financing projects like tolled roads and not in areas that government would have to subsidise.”
Later in an interview some members of civil society said the presidents lamentations were part of holding donors accountable and asking them to deliver on their promises even though it is believed that laxity on the part of some public officials sometimes contribute to delays in disbursement of donor funds.
According to a representative of civil society at the conference, Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, donors sometimes only promise but fail to deliver on their promises.
He said sometimes, the funds delay, whilst governments in desperate situations are forced to sign agreements before they get the chance to weigh the consequences.
He also said conditionalities are usually not announced openly since they will attract criticisms.
Dr. Akwetey said before the public can hold donors accountable there is the need for donors to be transparent. Accountability borders on moral suasion, and this is very powerful,” he said.
Dr. Akwetey who is also the Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) said civil society wants to discuss what Mr. Hammond proposed with donors.
“We intend to engage them in a number of issues, including independent evaluation of their activities in our country.”
He explained that although the influence of donors such as the World Bank has toned down considerably, donors have repackaged their influences in more sophisticated forms.
“There have been influences and there are still influences but the issue is how to minimize those influences.” He said.
Supporting Dr. Akwetey, a Policy Analyst with the Centre for Budget Advocacy (CBA) of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) Nicholas Adamtten said “If we know the amount that the donors are transferring or if we know the conditions attached to the facility, then we can assess the impact and hold donors accountable.
Adamttten also said it is a good thing that the donors themselves have realized that it is time to get Ghanaians on board the development ladder.
“If they have realized it and they are asking us, then it is a step forward,” he said.
The conference confirmed that Ghana will benefit from a five billion dollar aid in projected new disbursements, which is 800 million dollars more than projected six months ago.
A further 1.3 billion dollars in debt relief under HIPC and other initiatives all totaling 6.3 billion is identified as development partner support for the Growth and Poverty Reduction (GPRS II) for the period 2006 to 2009.
Government also noted that an additional two billion dollar would be needed to scale-up investment plan designed to meet the objectives of GPRS II.
An official of the World Bank Office in London Jacob Kopperud said there is the need to track what donors promise and hold them to it.
“Ghana must learn from the experiences of Austria and wean itself of donor influence. You cannot forever hope that Uncle Sam to bringing you a nice care package,” An Austrian Economic Journalist on tour of Ghana Oliver Grimm advised.