According to research conducted by Dennislaw in collaboration with the Corporate Secretarial and Training Services (CSTS), 155 MMDAs in Ghana operate without by-laws.
You might be asking how a political entity like District Assemblies can carry out their entire development, such as local economic growth, basic education, public health, environmental protection and sanitation, and human settlements improvement and management, without by-laws.
This is more than a fact, as it has been shown that just 106 (41%) of Ghana's 261 MMDAs have by-laws, leaving 155 (59%) without. Despite this, the MMDAs continue to issue permits, fines, charges, penalties, and other items, raising the important question of the legality of the MMDAs' actions and operations.
Dennislaw's research, titled 2021 STATUS OF BY-LAWS IN GHANA, was conducted in collaboration with the Corporate Secretarial and Training Services (CSTS).
FINDING
The Ashanti Region has the most MMDAs operating without by-laws, with twenty-six (26), followed by the Eastern Region, which has eighteen (18).
The remaining MMDAs appease Greater Accra and Central Regions, totaling fifteen (15). Furthermore, regions such as Bono, Bono East, North East, Oti, Upper East, Upper West, and Western Region have more than half (50%) of their MMDAs not functioning within by-laws.
One hundred and eight (108) sets of by-laws have been gazetted in respect of one hundred and nine (109) MMDAs, according to the 25-page study report.
By redefining their spheres of authority, three sets of bylaws (Kintampo, Assin Fosu Municipal, and Mamprusi) could not be regarded as legal. BY-LAW DRAFT
Twenty-seven (27) MMDAs from eight (8) different areas were found to be employing draft by-laws.
However, these MMDAs were not considered to have valid by-laws under Section 182 of the Local Government Act, 2016(Act 936), because draft by-laws are by-laws that have been accepted by their local assemblies and approved by the Regional Coordinating Council but have not yet been gazetted or published.
All MMDAs are required to enact by-laws for their operation under Section 182 of the Local Government Act, 2016 (Act 936). It says this:
(1) A District Assembly's bylaws must be presented to the Regional Coordinating Council.
(2) The Regional Co-ordinating Council must ensure that the bylaw complies with this Act and any other applicable legislation.
(3) Where the Regional Coordination Council has jurisdiction.
If the Regional Co-ordinating Council rejects the by-law, it must inform the District Assembly and explain why; or
The Regional Co-ordinating Council shall cause the by-law to be published if it is approved by the Regional Co-ordinating Council.