All Hands on Deck: The Process and Activities of Collaboration between Chiefs and Local Government Authorities in Ghana

Abstract

Local governance historically revolved around chiefs. However, colonialism witnessed the transfer of the powers and functions of chiefs to local government authorities. Current local government legislations failed to provide the needed formalised process of collaboration between the two actors resulting in conflict and tensions between them. This notwithstanding, chiefs have exhibited their preparedness to collaborate with developmental partners including local government authorities. The study examined the processes and activities that chiefs and local government authorities collaborated for the purpose of community development. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select forty-nine participants from New Juaben, Ghana. Multiple qualitative methods including participant observation, in-depth and key informant interviews were used to collect data. The study revealed that chiefs and local government authorities collaborated on an ad hoc basis in organising communal labour and sanitation, disaster management, revenue mobilisation and crime prevention. Though chiefs and local government authorities collaborated in diverse activities, the process of collaboration was not formalised. Chiefs are however needed in local governance to aid in the materialisation of the objectives of community development. The study recommends for the formalisation of the process of collaboration between the two actors to enable the former play active roles in local government.

Keywords: Collaboration, Local Government Authorities, Chiefs, Community Development