A Case Study of Planning in Kwabre East District Assembly and Offinso Municipal Assembly
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Minnesota State University, Mankato Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects Capstone Projects 2016 Why Has Plan Implementation Been Ineffective in Ghana? A Case Study of Planning in Kwabre East District Assembly and Offinso Municipal Assembly Gabriel Appiah Minnesota State University, Mankato Follow this and additional works at: https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds Part of the Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Public Policy Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Appiah, G. (2016). Why Has Plan Implementation Been Ineffective in Ghana? A Case Study of Planning in Kwabre East District Assembly and Offinso Municipal Assembly [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/657/ This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects at Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. Why has Plan Implementation been ineffective in Ghana? A Case Study of Planning in the Kwabre East District Assembly and Offinso Municipal Assembly BY: GABRIEL APPIAH Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Studies Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota November 2016 i Why has Plan Implementation been ineffective in Ghana? A Case Study of Planning in the Kwabre East District Assembly and Offinso Municipal Assembly. GABRIEL APPIAH This thesis has been examined and approved by the following members of the student’s committee. Raymond Asomani-Boateng, Ph.D., AICP Advisor Russell J. Fricano, Ph.D., AICP Committee Member ii ABSTRACT Plan implementation is crucial to the success of any society. For a community to feel the impact of planning, planners should implement plans efficiently. In the light of the importance of plan implementation to our community, the study evaluated the various factors (institutional capacity, and citizen participation) that affected the implementation of the DMTDP (2006-2013) in Offinso Municipal Assembly (OMA) and Kwabre East District Assembly (KEDA) in Ghana. The Study used desk study and institutional survey to evaluate plan implementation in both districts. The study found that the challenges causing the poor performance in plan implementation in both District Assemblies and Ghana as a whole are multifaceted. These findings imply that a single solution is not going to cut it, and as such integrated approach should be adopted to improve plan implementation in OMA and KEDA and Ghana as a whole. Some of the challenges of plan implementation identified by the study include over dependency on external funding or central government, low internally generated revenue, political interference, lack of political will, low citizen’s involvement in planning, weak institutional capacity and others. The study recommended strategies such as improvement of staff capacities and competencies, enhancing the availability of physical resources, effective management of financial resources, encouraging citizen participation, adopting public-private partnership in plan implementation and others. The study recommends that these strategies are implemented simultaneously and integrated into the existing systems in both District Assemblies and Ghana as a whole. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, I thank Almighty God for a successful completion of my master’s program. Also, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my thesis advisor, Dr. Raymond Asomani-Boateng, and committee members Dr. Russell Fricano for their constructive comments and encouragement. This work would not have been completed without their guidance. I would like to thank the rest of the faculty for their support throughout the master program; I am so grateful for their help. Their advice, encouragement, and comments have been helpful throughout my studies. I also thank my fellow colleagues in the Urban and Regional Studies Institute and staff of Region Nine Development Commission and the University of Minnesota Extension, for their encouragement and discussions at the oral exams. Finally, I thank all planners at the districts studies. This research was a success because of your dedication. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................ ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ iii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE ....................................................................................................................... 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Scope of the Study ........................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER TWO....................................................................................................................... 8 PLANNING AS A TOOL FOR GUIDING DEVELOPMENT.............................................................. 8 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Plan Preparation .......................................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Plan Preparation Process ................................................................................................ 9 1. Identify Issues and Options ............................................................................................ 10 2. State Goals, Objectives, and Priorities ........................................................................... 11 3. Collect and interpret Data ............................................................................................. 11 4. Prepare Plans ................................................................................................................. 11 5. Review and Adopt Plans ................................................................................................ 11 2.3 Plan Implementation .................................................................................................. 12 2.3.1 Factors Affecting Plan Implementation ........................................................................ 13 1. Plan Quality .................................................................................................................... 14 2. Commitment and capacity of the planning agency ....................................................... 14 3. Public Participation ........................................................................................................ 15 4. Enforcement style .......................................................................................................... 15 6. Complexities of the Local Political Context.................................................................... 16 iii 7. Uncertainties .................................................................................................................. 16 8. Economic Downturn ...................................................................................................... 17 2.3.3 Plan Implementation Process ....................................................................................... 17 2.4 Planning in Ghana ...................................................................................................... 20 2.4.1 History of Planning in Ghana ........................................................................................ 20 1. Pre-Independence Era ................................................................................................... 20 2. Post-Independence Era .................................................................................................. 22 3. Planning in the Contemporary Times ............................................................................ 24 2.4.2 Institutions and Legislation supporting Planning in Ghana .......................................... 29 2.4.4 Plan Implementation in Ghana ..................................................................................... 33 2.5 Cases on Effective Plan Implementation and