The Lyssah Community Local Government Placement Survey
Background to Survey
1.1 The Rationale Behind Development of Local Government System
Ghana’s 1992 Constitution institutionalized the processes of decentralization. Chapter 20 of the Constitution clearly states that Ghana shall run a local governance and administrative system in a practical decentralized manner as humanly possible. The base of this system is metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies whose boundaries can be reconstituted and redrawn through laws enacted by parliament. Institutionalized
The framers of the constitution envisioned a nation where development was not a top-bottom approach but one that vested power in the people at the grassroots and allowed them to decide their developmental trajectory at the local level. It was also intended to be implemented as practicable as possible to provide rapid development and facilitate swift communication between different levels of the decentralization architecture.
The many protests and disagreements that follow the creation of new metropolitan, municipal, or district assemblies show that these noble ideals have often been sabotaged by the processes through which new boundaries are drawn, as many communities have found themselves placed in local government areas that they believe serve as impediments to their progress and development. This arises from a myriad of reasons including but not limited to the geographical location of towns and villages relative to their district capitals, poor and nonexisting infrastructure, the meddling of political parties and governments in the demarcation of districts to favour their electoral fortunes, none and poor consultation with communities in the demarcation and realignment of districts, etc. This has seen a rise in the call from towns, villages, and communities over the years to be taken out from current districts and realigned to different ones based on several factors.
The Lyssah community finds itself in this quandary, after the creation of the Nandom district, now the Nandom Municipal Assembly out of the then Lawra district, also now the Lawra Municipal Assembly. Falling on the northern side of the Dangbang river, the community shares dual allegiances to the Lawra and Nandom areas. Traditionally, the community chiefship has been associated with the Lawra Traditional Council. However, the community has been strongly linked to the Nandom area for its socio-economic and religious activities since the colonial era. The placement of Lyssah in the Lawra Municipality, therefore, generated considerable emotional debates among community members about its importance to their development. The lack of prior consultation with community members before the drawing of the boundaries that affected the placement of Lyssah has meant that community debates over whether or not they should remain in the Lawra municipality or demand a relocation into the Nandom municipality have been based more on individualized opinions and emotions rather than empirical evidence that shows where the community members prefer to be placed.
The issues involved are multifaceted, with different political, social, historical, traditional, and economic interests crisscrossing each other to complicate the nature and direction of community debates. This has forced groups and individuals within the community to take sides, sometimes under very tense circumstances. The associated agitations between different groups and the prospects of degeneration of the arguments into open conflicts with potential
Institute fore Peace and Development – Lyssah Community Voice and Views Study 4
violent outcomes informed IPD’s decision to support the community to generate some independent data to aid the dialogue processes.