This is because the procedures involved in making such positions electable have not yet been triggered.

NPP manifesto promise

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) in its 2016 manifesto promised to “oversee the direct election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) within 24 months of election into office, to coincide with the next District Assembly elections in 2019.”

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo also promised that “In 2018, we are going to move to fully elected District Assembly representations including the choice of the District chief Executive (DCE). It is going to be done by the people of the districts and no longer by the nomination of the President.”

But it seems the promise might not be achieved as promised.

According to a Local Government Minister, O.B Amoah, for the MMDCE elections to be possible, there is a need for a referendum to be held or Article 55 (3) of the Constitution amended to  make the position a partisan one.

MMDCEs election won’t be in 2018

[contextly_sidebar id=”bMwZrw1Qi0vNHg23BJ6EHKwKlm3DWhZo”]O.B Amoah, while speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, on Monday, stated emphatically that, the election of MMDCEs will certainly not take place in 2018.

“It is not 2018; I don’t know why this thing keeps coming up and indeed if we want to go the full hog and make the election partisan, it means we should even do a referendum to amend article 55 (3) so that we can get MMDCEs elected on multi-party basis. So we are working towards that, but certainly it is not 2018.”

“The next assembly election is September 2019, and we should be able to work towards that date. Most probably, by September 2019, we can let the referendum coincide with the assembly election so that by that time Ghanaians are voting for their assembly members, they will also be deciding that after 2019 MMDCEs should be elected on multi-party basis,” he added.

Article 55 (3) of Ghana’s constitution states that:

Subject to the provisions of this article, a political party is free to participate in shaping the political will of the people, to disseminate information on political ideas, social and economic programmes of a national character, and sponsor candidates for elections to any public office other than to District Assemblies or lower local government units.

The issue of election of MMDCEs had in time past taken centre stage in major discussions in the country with some Ghanaians demanding for it.

We are on course 

The Deputy Minister also noted that, the Local Government Ministry is holding series of meetings with the various stakeholders to make MMDCEs position electable.

“We are very much on course. We did one stakeholders meeting with IDEC, we are in collaboration with the political science departments to do other programmes. We are sure that by the end of the year 2017, we would have carried out some of these stakeholder programmes,” he added.

It could also mean that, the promise may not be fulfilled even within the first term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Ghanaians won’t elect MMDCEs in 2018 – O.B. Amoah appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Assembly Members, who spoke to Citi News alleged that Dr Ziblim favours a particular individual for the DCE slot.

[contextly_sidebar id=”b9FdEfunpdFIBbbnsUD3t1CqnZRUUsxB”]It is, for this reason, the Assembly Members are accusing the MP of frustrating the confirmation of the nominee,

Wajack Zakaria, a member of the Gushiegu District Assembly, revealed that before the confirmation vote, indications were that the Assembly was going to confirm the nominee till the MP, stepped in with his address where he basically said: “they could decide to vote or not to vote.”

Mr. Zakari further alleged that “some of the assembly members were given some amount (GHc 700) to deter them from voting for the guy [Yakubu Abdulai].”

Financial incentives appear to be the norm in Gushiegu District Assembly with Mr. Zakari noting that, “actually it is a laid down rule that when the nominees are going to be confirmed, at least the nominees should give something. So he [Yakubu Abdulai] went round and gave everybody [GHc 500 each].”

But “afterwards, the MP also came out with his GHc 700 to distribute to those he felt he could deter from voting. According to what I hear, he gave each and everyone GHc 700… He has support for a particular man but because the government did not nominate his candidate, he wants the downfall of the guy [the DCE nominee] so that his man will come on board.”

The failed Gushiegu DCE nominee, Yakubu Abdulai polled nine out of 32 votes cast during the confirmation sitting.

So far, the majority of the remaining 25 MMDCE nominees in the Northern Region, including those for Sagnarigu, Yendi, Zabzugu, Tatale-Sanguli, Ygaba-Kubori, Nanumba north and Nanumba south have been confirmed.

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By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post MP allegedly sabotages Gushiegu DCE nominee appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“Already, we are living in a very polarized environment and one of the threads that have kept us together is our local government and decentralization system which operates on a non-partisan basis, and gives people the opportunity to play their role in the governance process in that non-partisan manner. Any attempt to make local elections partisan must tread very cautiously in order not to polarize this country from top to down,” he cautioned in an interview on Eyewitness News.

[contextly_sidebar id=”cWTtqIG8ek3QEpsGiixB8uWyEimijBSd”]President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the 2016 electioneering campaign promised to make the position of MMDCEs electable as per recommendations by the Constitutional Review Commission.

According to him this will be made possible in 2018.

But Mr. Ofosu Ampofo advised that such a move would require “a lot of debate and argument and depends on arrangements that would be put in place.”

He thus advocated for the sustenance of the current system that sees MMDCEs appointed by the president.

“The system as we have now has kept this country together. It has built national cohesion at the bottom of development and it has ensured that there is balanced and even distribution of resources at the local level.”

Mahama’s MMDCEs sacked

The NPP government over the week terminated the appointments of the various MMDCEs appointed by the erstwhile Mahama-led administration.

But Ofosu-Ampofo argued that the move was impulsive.

He described government’s approach to purging the local government of its heads as akin to a “coup mentality.”

“I believe this decision was very harsh. It was taken in a very rash manner,” Mr. Ofosu Ampofo stressed.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Electing MMDCEs danger to Ghana’s stability – Ofosu Ampofo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This is according to the Local Government Minister nominee, Hajia Alima Mahama, who explained that the change in government at the national level had to reflect at the assembly level.

[contextly_sidebar id=”niA8EUoBSJP0Gr2ALnucwOzkGmSahMH4″]“Once there is a change in government, we have to ensure that it goes through national to sub-national level and that is what we have effected,” she said on Eyewitness News.

“The Regional Ministers have gone, the ministers at the national level have gone so the District Chief Executives also have to go, in line with the change. We cannot effect change at the national level and not effect change at the sub-national.”

Hajia Alima explained that the government could not afford to have persons without the requisite locus “taking specific decision that are not in tandem with the policy outlook or framework of this government. That is why they have to hand over.”

She further downplayed assertions that the removal of the MMDCEs would affect the running of local government nationwide.

According to her, “if it is the day-to-day administration and the implementation of the activities that the district assembly has decided on, the staff are there, the offices are running as normal.”

All MMDCEs are to hand over their relevant duties to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Coordinating Directors (MMDCDs).

Unfortunate turn of events

Also speaking on Eyewitness News, a commentator on Local Government issues, George Kyei Baffour, however expressed disappointment in this development.

“Looking at it in the context of good governance and the enhancement of decentralization in this country, I think it is an unfortunate event because it kind of truncates the entire process of administrative and executive authority at the level of the assemblies.”

This turn of events has been the norm following regime changes, with new governments normally appointing new MMDCEs that align with its leanings.

Mr. Baffour indicated the only way to overcome this trend would be to have the MMDCEs elected, something the current government has planned to initiate in 2018.

“The ultimate will have to be done; getting the MMDCEs elected with their mandate coming directly from the people,” he said.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post MMDCEs fired to enforce change at assembly level – Gov’t appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Whereas GGDP wants the recommendations by the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) in relation to the election of MMDCEs to be fully implemented now, IMANI Ghana disagrees.

The think tanks each made their case in a debate organized by the Growth and Development Platform with support from Citi FM on the election of MMDCEs and the abolition of the death penalty in Accra on Tuesday.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1nnHGHb8FqlTnIks4NXhBK6DFvbikFjf”]The CRC Commission was established in January 2010 and released its report on December 2011 which among other things recommended that Metropolitan Chief Executives should be elected while that of a process devised for the appointment of Municipal and District Chief Executives.

Subsequently, government in 2012 released its white paper on the report; however, four years down the line, the implementation is yet to be done.

IMANI Ghana, which was represented at the debate by its Vice President, Kofi Bentil explained that election of MMDCEs would be an exercise in futility if certain issues like devolution of the president’s power and competence of persons appointed to such positions are not tested.

Mr. Bentil also insisted that the death penalty must be maintained.

But the Interim Chairman of GGDP, Kwamena Essilfie Adjaye at the debate said too much resources have been invested in the CRC for its report to be ignored.

“We feel that the constitutional review process, one in which we have invested so much as a nation, time, money and effort, one which began after many years of agitation for constitution review should be completed.”

On election of the MMDCEs, Mr. Adjaye argued that it was very necessary and would complete the decentralization process.

“For many of us, we feel that if we want to be a democracy, if we mean what we want to walk the talk as a democracy, then decentralization must be completed. It must be carried all the way to the point of electing local chief executives. What we have is anachronistic, to have decentralization up to a certain level and at the local level to have appointments and assembly election of chief executive is anachronistic. The most important of all is that democracy cannot be fully implemented until we have popular election of local leaders.”

“In many of the electoral areas, the areas are coterminous with constituencies, if they are coterminous with constituencies them member of parliament are elected popularly in those constituencies, now tell me if the local people can elect their members of parliament in the same area, why on earth can’t they elect their local chief executives? It’s long overdue for Ghana to completely have popular election of all local executives,” he added.

Mr, Adjaye further charged political parties and civil society organizations to do their part to ensure that the CRC report was fully implemented.

“We want the political parties to take this up, we want CSOs to join us in making sure that this process is completed. We have gone even further, we concentrated on two major issues, on decentralization, more specifically on the election of MMDCEs and we looked at the abolition of the death penalty in our paper.”

For his part, IMANI’s Kofi Bentil said though they are not against election of MMDCEs, he said some issues affecting the systems would still persist if the nation adopted the voting system for the MMDCEs.

He also argued that there was the need for persons taking up such position to go through what he described as “competence testing” processes.

Below are some arguments Kofi Bentil put forth at the debate:

“… In as much as we have our view that this must happen, we think that there are real impediments in the way of people who have the opportunity to implement these things and for which reason they don’t implement them and what we need to do is to try and deal with those impediments. So what do we do when we’ve given an executive president all the power in this country and then we tie his hands such that he cannot be effective at the local level? If we can deal with that then maybe we would be solving the problem.”

Devolution of power

“Essentially, electing DCEs and co are another way of effecting devolution of power. If you therefore want to devolve power, then it must be started from the top. The president has too much power…it therefore does not help anybody if you keep the president having all that power and you still have that devolution in name at the local level. We want that to happen, but we think there are structural issues that fight against it.”

Quality of human resources

“We have a real difficult and serious problem with the quality of our human resource…Some of the people who are running things at our local level are atrocious.  Some of the people at the local level when the get the position of the MMDCEs do not have an intention to be effective in changing the lives of the people down there, their intention is to be building houses in Accra and be changing their own circumstances. So they instead solve personal problems and engage in booty and freebie sharing. If we go forward and therefore start doing these things without addressing some of these concerns, we will end up handing a lot of our national resources to people who have no clue to what they are doing. So we need to address that matter. Must there not be some sort of competence testing before we enter a simple clear election?”

Democracy not universal adult suffrage

“Democracy is not the same as universal adult suffrage. That is the situation where anybody of a certain age should vote. We have a situation where our democracy has been equated to universal adult suffrage so everybody has one vote and to that extent therefore, it is the popular person who would win and not necessarily the competent person. And at the local level, the village drunkard can win. If we create a system that can elect the village drunkard and entrust him with resources then we are not doing a good job in fashioning and crafting our democracy in a way that fits.

–

By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Policy think tanks debate election of MMDCEs appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Listen or download

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Show details

– Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor speaks to us exclusively about his Tottenham form (with Dotun Tenubi)

– We hear from Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah as he marks two years in charge (analysis with BBC’s Michael Oti-Adjei and Power FM’s Christopher Opoku)

–  Then we take an extensive look at Algeria’s preparations for Brazil 2014 (with Maher Mezahi). Plus the usual dose of ‘Africans Abroad’.

– And who is the winner of our Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini weekly quiz? You can win too! (click here)

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Presented by Gary Al-Smith and produced by Nathan Quao/Gary Al-Smith for Citi FM & supersport.com. Aired: April 11, 2014.

**Soundtrack details**
Song Title: Someway Bi
Artist Name: M.anifest
Produced by: Yung Fly
Singitdamnit Music/Cumbancha Music Publishing (BMI) 2013

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The post FC Africa 6: Adebayor speaks, 2 years of Ghana’s Kwesi Appiah & Algeria unlocked appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.