Ghanaian government to commence full implementation of $1million per constituency campaign promise

The commencement certificate makes available, GH¢1.664 billion ($320 million) for the 275 constituencies across the country.

This means that $275 million will be given to the 275 constituencies in the country and $45 million for outstanding commitments.

The IPEP, more commonly known as ‘$1 Million per Constituency’, is a flagship government initiative aimed at meeting critical infrastructure needs identified by local stakeholders at the constituency level.

Ahead of the 2016 general elections, the then opposition party promised to eradicate poverty and minimise inequality among socio-economic groups through direct provision of basic infrastructure at the constituency level.

IPEP will be the main vehicle to manage this programme.

Under IPEP, each of the 275 constituencies is allocated the equivalence of $1 million annually, to be invested in infrastructure development initiatives of their choice, managed and implemented by the three development authorities (Northern Development Authority, Middle Belt Development Authority, and Coastal Development Authority), under the Office of the President, supervised by the Minister responsible for Special Development Initiatives.

This is not the first time the current government is allocating such amounts to constituencies. Since 2017, there has been a budgetary allocation for every constituency in the country.

At that time the three development authorities had not been set up fully. This meant that the $1 million per constituency was temporarily administered through the Minister for Special Development Initiatives.

The three development authorities have since been established by an Act of Parliament and are fully operational; therefore, the government has issued commencement letters to cover the full amount of the cedi equivalence of $1 million to all three development authorities to commence the implementation of constituency-specific infrastructure needs.