Dr. Nana Ato Arthur
The Head of the Local Government Services, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur,has pledged support for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).
Appointment as Chief Executive comes with no security of tenure, hence his support forthe proposed election of MMDCEs.
According to him, most DCEs were always struggling to become Members of Parliament (MPs) and find every available means to sabotage their MPs because of their job insecurity.
“Why is it that MMDCEs control more resources than MPs and yet they want to go to Parliament? It is because they are sure of their job security at the legislature for four years.”
Speaking on Wontumi TV/FM on Monday, Dr. Ato Arthur observed that the election of MMDCEs will deepen Ghana’s decentralisation process and also reduce how people look down upon MMDCEs.
“Someone or people can team up against a DCE and report him or her to the President and the next minute they are fired, but same cannot be done to an MP because he is elected,” he pointed out.
Dr. Ato Arthur explained that already local level elections had become highly political, indicating that during district level elections, posters of assembly members are cleverly designed with political colours and most of them behind the scenes are sponsored by political parties.
“So we must stop playing the ostrich and hold the bull by the horn,” he added.
He noted that all the experts of decentralisation in Ghana including Prof.KwamenaAhwoi and Dr. CalistusMahama fully support the election of MMDCEs and are captured in their books.