Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs ) should be elected by Ghanaians to make them more accountable to the citizenry, the 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party(NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo has proposed.
Currently the president nominates a candidate who would have to secure the approval of two thirds of assembly members to be confirmed.
[contextly_sidebar id=”oKTinvuVuGAAMtJXPUihHi4nzr6iFJbo”]However speaking at the 2015 J. B. Danquah Memorial Lecture Series, Nana Akuffo Addo insisted election of these MMDCE’s by the local people, even on partisan lines, will ensure they participate actively in the governance of the country.
“…the time is right, to take democratic principles fully into local governance, local officials must become accountable to their local electorates, 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..” the three-time NPP presidential candidate said.
This is not the first recommendation for the election of MMDCEs.
The Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and the Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) in 2014 proposed the election of MMDCEs on the tickets of political parties.
This, they said will ensure the Chief Executives are the outcome of popular votes and thus be accountable to their constituents.
Nana Akuffo Addo also stated that one of his topmost priority when elected President of Ghana is to fix the economy.
He said one of his political ambition is to “bring back macro economic stability to the management of the national economy.
Speaking on other economic challenges bedivilling the country, Nana Addo said : “petrol prices remain high today only because government did not have the competence to keep our currency stable.”
” We cannot afford to buy crude oil to power our lights because of the high cost of buying the dollar in an economy saddled with suffocating national debt”
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By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana