District Assemblies and Provision of Social Services in Ghana. Interrogating Educational and Health Care Infrastructure and Services in Bekwai Municipality

Abstract:

This study assesses District Assemblies’ contributions towards the provision of educational and health care infrastructure and services in the Bekwai Municipality. Questionnaires were administered to one hundred (100) households and fifty (50) Assembly Members while in-depth interviews were conducted with the Municipal Directors of Education and Health Services as well as the Planning and Chief Executive Officers. The chi-square test statistics were employed in the inferential analysis. It was found out that activities of the Assembly have expanded education and health infrastructure. This was seen in the consistent increase in providing more school facilities and renovating dilapidated ones as well as providing health facilities and CHPS compounds in remote areas to provide basic health services. Despite these achievements, for more than three decades into the implementation of the decentralisation policy, there still exist inequalities in the provision of education and health infrastructure and services in most communities in Bekwai Municipal. In order to improve equality in access to education and health services within the context of decentralisation, the study recommends: the provision of health and educational facilities should be fully supervised by the respective departments at the sub-national level; the provision of health and educational infrastructure must go through proper identification through to the operational stages to ensure adequate stakeholders participation and the capacity of the assembly in providing health and educational infrastructure and services should be enhanced.