Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey
The Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), is of the view that allowing the election of MMDCEs along political party lines will foster development at the local government level.
Speaking on Point Blank segment of Eyewitness News, the Executive Director of IDEG, Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey, said elected local government officials would feel more responsible and would keep the government on its toes in ensuring that the much-needed resources are channelled to the metropolis, municipalities and districts to boost growth and development.
“We are supposed to give them 5% of the total national revenue each year annually or up to 7.5%, but it never happens and no appointed Chief Execute has been able to challenge the President or the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, but these dynamics are going to change because parties would contest. But the President would work with them, because they also need the president to work with them,” he said.
The rank and file of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have reportedly shown their disapproval of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s pledge and commitment to elect Municipal, Metropolitan and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), the General Secretary of the NPP, Mr John Boadu has said.
According to him, the disapproval of the election of MMDCEs by the members is because they believe the party will lose out on rewarding its hardworking members who have mobilised support for the party at the local level if those positions become elective rather than appointive.
The disapproval came up for discussion at a two-day retreat on multi-party local governance in Big Ada, organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) for a section of ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs) and national executives of the ruling party on the election of MMDCEs.
But in a Senior Research Fellow of IDEG, Mr. Kwesi Jonah, has described the argument as one that is putting the party’s interest above the national interest.
Election of MMDCEs will be chaotic if not partisan- O.B Amoah
A Deputy Minister for Local Government, O.B Amoah has said the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives will be chaotic if it is not conducted on partisan basis.
Making a case for the election to be held on a partisan basis, Mr. O.B Amoah said:“If you want to elect MMDCEs and it is non partisan, it might be chaotic. We may end up with so many candidates. In a district we may end up with about seven contestants…and no one can stop them because it is non partisan, you cannot say one person should step down.”
He further indicated that the decision to make the election of MMDCEs partisan was not a new thing as most District Assembly Elections are usually held on partisan basis.
During the campaign for the 2016 elections, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President Akufo-Addo promised to ensure the election of local assembly officers to promote accountability and good governance.
The party, until recently, however failed to clarify whether the election will be done on a partisan basis or not, a situation, Mr. Amoah believes has largely contributed to delays in the election of MMDCEs.
Amendment to allow partisan election
The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) has already presented to Parliament a bill on the amendment of some articles in the 1992 Constitution.
The amendments when passed will allow Ghanaians to vote for MMDCEs.
The articles slated for amendment are Article 243 (1) on the appointment of MMDCEs by the President and Article 55 (3), which prohibits the involvement of political parties in district level elections.
The bill was submitted to Parliament by the MLGRD following nation-wide consultations on the matter of election of MMDCEs. There were also discussions with a cross-section of governance experts and traditional leaders in all 10 regions of the country.
The stage is now set for a nation-wide sensitization on the matter as well as changes to entrenched constitutional provisions in relation to that.
The Government has proposed a referendum on the election of MMDCEs for next year.
The referendum must have at least 40 per cent of registered voters turning out to vote and 75 per cent of that number endorsing the measure in accordance with Article 290 (4).
–Citifmonline