THE RULING National Democratic Congress (NDC) has pledged to make the positions of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) electable in the country.
President John Mahama, who is seeking re-election, made this known on Wednesday at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra while giving the highlights of the party’s yet-to-be-launched manifesto for the 2016 general election.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has already announced the election of all MMDCEs if elected in the December polls as president.
In a move to catch the attention of the adherents of elected MMDCEs, the president said he would implement the Constitutional Review Commission’s recommendations on the election of MMDCEs.
He announced that when re-elected into power, the NDC administration would ensure the election of MMDCEs to help deepen decentralization in the country.
He maintained, “We will also implement the Constitutional Review Commission’s recommendations to have MMDCEs elected… We will promote performance-based competition among MMDAs.”
However, the Constitutional Review Commission only recommended the election of metropolitan chief executives after three people had been shortlisted for the polls.
That recommendation was rejected by the government in the White Paper it issued.
According to the president, assembly members across Ghana would also be given allowances as part of the effective decentralization drive. “We will initiate processes to implement the Constitutional Review Commission’s recommendations to pay assembly members allowances,” Mahama posited.
Debate Over MMDCEs Election
The NDC’s promise follows pressure by some civil society organisations like the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), the Centre for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD-Ghana) as well some political figures for such positions to be electable in a bid to make office holders accountable to the citizens instead of the president who appoints them (MMDCEs).
IDEG had recently argued at a public forum that allowing for MMDCEs to be elected would make them work harder and develop their areas as failure to do so would see them being voted out in subsequent elections.
MMDCEs are currently nominated by the president pursuant to Article 243(1) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 20(1) of the Local Government Act 1993 (Act 462). They are also mandated by the law to be approved by majority of members of the assembly.
Apart from Nana Akufo-Addo and President Mahama, Paa Kwesi Nduom, standard bearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has also advocated for the election of MMDCEs.
In Nana Akufo-Addo’s view “…the time is right, to take democratic principles fully into local governance; local officials must become accountable to their local electorate. District Chief Executives should be directly elected if need be on partisan lines, just like members of parliament and the president. It will strengthen local confidence and initiative.”
But local government expert and a sympathizer of the NDC, Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, earlier downplayed calls for such positions to be made electable, saying it would further deepen disunity at the grassroots.
BY Melvin Tarlue