The Attorney General has been dragged before the Supreme Court by two persons over the allocation of a portion of the District Assembly Common Fund to Members of Parliament, and Regional Coordinating Councils.
The plaintiffs, John Ndebugri Awuni and Richard Kwadwo Nyarko, are law students of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
According to them, such allocation to either Members of Parliament and Regional Coordinating Councils contravenes Article 252 (1), (2), and (3) of the constitution.
The duo are therefore seeking “a declaration that, on a true and proper interpretation of the Constitution, 1992, Members of Parliament and Regional Coordinating Councils are not beneficiaries of monies accruing to the District Assemblies Common Fund, which monies shall be distributed among the District Assemblies on the basis of a formula approved by Parliament, and that previous acts and any prospective act of allocating any portions of monies accruing to the District Assemblies Common Fund to Members of Parliament, styled as Members of Parliament Common Fund or “M. Ps Common Fund” and Regional Coordinating Councils, is inconsistent with and sins against the letter and spirit of articles 252 (1), (2), and (3) of the Constitution, 1992.
They are also seeking an injunction on the distribution of portions of the money to the MPs or Regional Coordinating Councils, until the final determination of the case
[They are seeking an] “Interim injunction order restraining the District Assemblies Common Fund Administrator, his agents, assigns and servants from allocating or disbursing any portion or share of monies accruing to the District Assemblies Common Fund to Members of Parliament under any guise and Regional Coordinating Councils until the final determination of this suit.”
The District Assemblies’ Common Fund is a pool of resources created under Article 252 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana.
The pool is provided with at least 5% of the national revenue set aside to be shared among all District Assemblies in Ghana with a formula approved by Parliament.
Although the constitution, does not state explicitly that allocations from the fund be made to MPs or regional coordinating councils, the country currently allocates a fraction of the fund to MPs and Regional Coordinating Councils.
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