The government of Ghana has announced the roadmap for the election of Chief Executives of the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDCEs), as part of efforts aimed at deepening the democratic process of the country.
Addressing the ‘Meet The Press’ in Accra on Wednesday, 29 May 2019, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama said the Amendment Bill of Article 243 (1) on appointment of MMDCEs has been approved by Cabinet, gazetted, laid in Parliament and referred to the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the lawmaking body.
The minister added that a national campaign strategy has been developed to facilitate a successful national referendum, which will be conducted alongside the district level elections in December 2019.
“A bill to amend Article 55 (3) of the Constitution to pave the way for the participation of political parties in district-level elections, was approved by Cabinet, forwarded to Mr Speaker, then to the Council of State for advice, published in the Gazette, matured on 24 May, and laid in Parliament for the first reading on 28 May 2019,” she said.
Hajia Alima Mahama disclosed that her Ministry, as part of the process, has conducted a series of stakeholder sensitisation and consultation in all the regions.
According to the minister, some of the groups she consulted include the Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Electoral Commission (EC), the National House of Chiefs, political parties, the Christian Council, the Federation of Muslim Councils in Ghana, and professional and civil society groups.
“The roadmap on the election of MMDCEs has been designed to be implemented in four (4) phases: pre-referendum phase, referendum phase, post-referendum phase; and change management and capacity-building phase,” she stated.
Ghana has implemented the current decentralisation and local government system since 1988.
Though significant progress has been made, there are a few grey areas that require improvement for participatory governance and local democracy to be deepened.
One of such grey areas is the need to elect MMDCEs on a partisan basis to be in tandem with the mode of electing national-level leaders.
Source: Ghana/otecfmghana.com
