Ghana’s new decentralisation policy aims to deepen accountability and give citizens greater oversight over local governance, a senior government official has said.

Gameli Kewuribe Hoedoafia, said the framework embeds multiple layers of accountability, including oversight by independent state institutions and direct citizen participation.

“These include horizontal accountability institutions such as the Ghana Audit Service, Internal Audit Agency and CHRAJ, as well as accountability between the people and local governments,” he said on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (25 May).

Under the policy, citizens are expected to participate in planning, budgeting and monitoring development projects, while local authorities will be required to publish internally generated funds (IGF) data annually.

Hoedoafia said this would allow residents to track revenues and hold duty bearers accountable for project delivery and quality.

“We want people to be part of planning, budgeting and even social auditing of projects,” he said.

The policy will also rely on monitoring systems developed by the National Development Planning Commission, alongside a new performance assessment framework to track implementation across sectors.

Hoedoafia stressed that decentralisation should not be viewed as an abstract concept, but as a means of transferring power directly to citizens.

“It means power to the people… the opportunity to shape development where they live,” he said.