Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development Daniel Kwaku Botwe, Sunday made available the list of 260 persons nominated by the President for the positions of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive (MMDCE) to the public.
The scanned versions of the list, made up of 132 males and 38 females, were uploaded on the Ministry of Information’s Facebook page and Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development’s website.
Addressing the media at the Minister’s briefing, hosted by the Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah in Accra, Mr Botwe, said the list was submitted to all the Regional Ministers of the 16 regions and Electoral Commission for processes towards their confirmation.
The nomination of the MMDCEs was in fulfilment of Article 243(1) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 20(1) of the Local Governance Act, 2016, (Act 936), which stipulated that the President was required to nominate persons for the MMDCE position with prior approval by two-thirds majority of members of the Assembly present and voting at the meeting.
The Electoral Commission is required to conduct an election on the nominees 21 days after receipt of the names for their approval or otherwise.
Mr Botwe asked the various Assemblies to take action towards the confirmation of the nominees in a peaceful atmosphere.
He entreated the nominees to be measured in their celebrations to ensure party unity, saying; “The idea of MMDCE is to serve the country and your community and so if you’re to serve then there should be no cause for misconduct when you’re not nominated”.
The Minister refuted claims that the delay in nominating the MMDCEs had brought development to halt at the local level, explaining that, the MMDCEs were in acting capacity and working while the Presiding Members, Executive Committees of the Assemblies and other constitutionally mandated bodies were implementing various developmental projects.
One of the MMDCEs who was conspicuously missing from the list was Mohammed Adjei Sowah, the Mayor of Accra who was replaced with former Greater Accra Deputy Regional Minister, Elizabeth Kwatsoo Tawiah Sackey.
Mr Clement Nii Lamptey Wilkinson retained his position as Chief Executive of the Ga West Municipality.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on assumption of office for his second term in January 2021, issued a directive through the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, for his first term chief executives of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, to continue acting in office until substantive ones are nominated.
The government constituted a Vetting Committee to do background checks of the applicants for the MMDCE positions.
The committee submitted the recommendations of nominees to the Presidency.
The President made the final decision on the nominees and submitted the list to the Sector Minister for announcement.
However, the delay in nominating chief executives has been a matter of concern to many groups and individuals, arguing that the delay was impacting negatively on the administration of the various assemblies.