Election of MMDCEs" An idea whose time is now!
Arku Jasmine
Features
On December 18, 2009, I sent my suggestions for amending the 1992 Constitution to the Constitutional Review Commission through the then Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, Betty Mould-Iddrissu.
I concentrated on three areas: The need to reduce the authority of the Executive and hold it accountable to the people while strengthening that of the Legislature; giving power back to the people through election of local government functionaries; and strengthening public sector institutions.
I have since realised that many people agree that Ghanaians are ready to elect their Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives. The time to make this happen is now.
Just this past week, Professor Justice A. K. P. Kludze, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court (SC), is reported to have called for the election of all assembly members to help strengthen the nation’s decentralisation programme. He said the present power of the President to appoint one-third of each assembly was undemocratic, and distorts the concept of decentralisation.
“When the members of the assemblies are all directly elected, we would have local government in the true sense with the assembly members answerable to the people… Chief Executives of the assemblies must also be elected which would make them accountable to the assemblies.”
Those who kick against the election of MMDCEs citing the cost of another election forget that we already have an election for Assembly Members every four years. The Electoral Commission will only have to add one more ballot for the election of MMDCEs.
The others who wonder what will happen if the MMDCE and the President have different ideologies or political party affiliation should consider how this works in other countries – it happens in London, New York, Cape Town, Abidjan, etc. and it works.
Those (including politicians, professors and business people) who say Ghanaians are not ready for this should remember 6th March 1957. Some said we were not ready for independence. If Ghanaians are able to cast votes to elect a President and Members of Parliament, they are certainly ready and better placed to elect their own local Chief Executive.
Some people wrongfully equate the position of President with that of a chief – a traditional ruler. To them, every position in Ghana, all wisdom, all decisions of state, every pesewa of the traditional authority and the people all belong to this one “father”.
This is not so with a democracy and we know it is also not so with traditional rulers. The wise traditional rulers know that they must share power and allow others their territory, assets and authority. For a democracy to work, we need one parent and many mothers and fathers all to work with discipline for the good of everyone.
Our local areas remain underdeveloped mainly because the leaders, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives are selected by one person - the President, based on political patronage. Sometimes the people who become Chief Executives are the ones rejected by the same people when they stand for election to become Members of Parliament. As a result, they listen to Accra and NOT the people they are put there to serve. When the people freely elect their Chief Executives, they will remove them if they do not deliver at the next election.
The problem of empowering the people at the local level has persisted in Ghana because the Constitution we are working with took a big part of that power and gave it to the President.
This problem, many believe, is still with us due to the usual problems people in power have had in parts of Africa and other less developed countries, “… the reluctance and lack of political will by central governments to cede power and authority to local governments; local level political participation has not been accompanied by accountability; and the poor or inadequate allocation of resources by central governments to local authorities. What else accounts for the fact that we are still talking about the people electing their own MMDCEs when the first Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS 1) promised to remove all constitutional impediments by the end of 2004?
Article 240 (1) of the Constitution says that “Ghana shall have a system of local government which shall, as far as practicable, be decentralised”. It is the same Article 240 that gives authority to Parliament to enact appropriate laws “… to ensure that functions, powers, responsibilities and resources are at all times transferred from the Central Government to local government units in a co-ordinated manner”. But Parliament’s ability to bring about full decentralisation is hampered by the Constitution.
The most offending parts of the Constitution in terms of usurping the powers of the people are the following:
1. Article 242 “A District Assembly shall consist of the following members:
(a) One person from each local government electoral area within the district elected by universal adult suffrage;
(b) The member or members of Parliament from the constituencies that fall within the area of authority of the District Assembly as members without the right to vote;
(c) The District Chief Executive of the district; and
(d) Other members not being more than thirty per cent of all the members of the District Assembly, appointed by the President in consultation with the traditional authorities and other interest groups in the district.”
2. Article 243 which reads, “243 (1) There shall be a District Chief Executive for every district who shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds majority of members of the Assembly present and voting at the meeting.”
3. Article 243 (3) which says that:
“The office of District Chief Executive shall become vacant if:
(a) A vote of no confidence, supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all the members of the District Assembly is passed against him; or
(b) He is removed from office by the President; or
(c) He resigns or dies. “
What is at stake today is the White Paper the government issued after the receipt of the report prepared by the
Constitutional Review Commission appointed by the late President John Fiifi Atta Mills. With regard to the mode of selecting Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives:
“…Government does not accept the recommendation that Parliament should be empowered to determine specific mechanisms for choosing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives. Government does not also accept the recommendation that in Metropolises, Metropolitan Chief Executives should be popularly elected. Government is of the view that in decentralising in a unitary state, a delicate balance ought to be struck between central control and local autonomy. Consequently, Government is of the view that article 243 (1) of the Constitution should be amended for the President to nominate a minimum of five persons who would be vetted by the Public Services Commission for competence after which three nominees would contest in a public election.”
If the Constitution is amended as stated above, local development will continue to be dictated by Accra and will therefore not be based on the urgent priorities and needs of the local people. Our local areas will consequently continue to be under-developed.
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives must be elected at the local level by the people so that they, the people and not Accra, will have control on the development agenda of their local areas based on their established priorities.
This is the only way to ensure sustainable development at the local level. I am urging President John Dramani Mahama to cement a positive legacy as the one who saw wisdom in staring total power in the face and decided to give a big chunk of it back to the people in order to accelerate development at the local level.
The mode of selection which has been practiced to this day and which will only be slightly amended by the President's proposal, has not brought any appreciable level of development, especially at the district levels.
The Constitutional Review Implementation Committee, Parliament and the President should therefore as a matter of urgency, let the people elect their own local Chief Executives.
I encourage all Ghanaians to speak up and act positively for the right to elect their own Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives. It is an idea whose time has come and is now! - The writer is the 2012 presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party.
I concentrated on three areas: The need to reduce the authority of the Executive and hold it accountable to the people while strengthening that of the Legislature; giving power back to the people through election of local government functionaries; and strengthening public sector institutions.
I have since realised that many people agree that Ghanaians are ready to elect their Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives. The time to make this happen is now.
Just this past week, Professor Justice A. K. P. Kludze, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court (SC), is reported to have called for the election of all assembly members to help strengthen the nation’s decentralisation programme. He said the present power of the President to appoint one-third of each assembly was undemocratic, and distorts the concept of decentralisation.
“When the members of the assemblies are all directly elected, we would have local government in the true sense with the assembly members answerable to the people… Chief Executives of the assemblies must also be elected which would make them accountable to the assemblies.”
Those who kick against the election of MMDCEs citing the cost of another election forget that we already have an election for Assembly Members every four years. The Electoral Commission will only have to add one more ballot for the election of MMDCEs.
The others who wonder what will happen if the MMDCE and the President have different ideologies or political party affiliation should consider how this works in other countries – it happens in London, New York, Cape Town, Abidjan, etc. and it works.
Those (including politicians, professors and business people) who say Ghanaians are not ready for this should remember 6th March 1957. Some said we were not ready for independence. If Ghanaians are able to cast votes to elect a President and Members of Parliament, they are certainly ready and better placed to elect their own local Chief Executive.
Some people wrongfully equate the position of President with that of a chief – a traditional ruler. To them, every position in Ghana, all wisdom, all decisions of state, every pesewa of the traditional authority and the people all belong to this one “father”.
This is not so with a democracy and we know it is also not so with traditional rulers. The wise traditional rulers know that they must share power and allow others their territory, assets and authority. For a democracy to work, we need one parent and many mothers and fathers all to work with discipline for the good of everyone.
Our local areas remain underdeveloped mainly because the leaders, the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives are selected by one person - the President, based on political patronage. Sometimes the people who become Chief Executives are the ones rejected by the same people when they stand for election to become Members of Parliament. As a result, they listen to Accra and NOT the people they are put there to serve. When the people freely elect their Chief Executives, they will remove them if they do not deliver at the next election.
The problem of empowering the people at the local level has persisted in Ghana because the Constitution we are working with took a big part of that power and gave it to the President.
This problem, many believe, is still with us due to the usual problems people in power have had in parts of Africa and other less developed countries, “… the reluctance and lack of political will by central governments to cede power and authority to local governments; local level political participation has not been accompanied by accountability; and the poor or inadequate allocation of resources by central governments to local authorities. What else accounts for the fact that we are still talking about the people electing their own MMDCEs when the first Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS 1) promised to remove all constitutional impediments by the end of 2004?
Article 240 (1) of the Constitution says that “Ghana shall have a system of local government which shall, as far as practicable, be decentralised”. It is the same Article 240 that gives authority to Parliament to enact appropriate laws “… to ensure that functions, powers, responsibilities and resources are at all times transferred from the Central Government to local government units in a co-ordinated manner”. But Parliament’s ability to bring about full decentralisation is hampered by the Constitution.
The most offending parts of the Constitution in terms of usurping the powers of the people are the following:
1. Article 242 “A District Assembly shall consist of the following members:
(a) One person from each local government electoral area within the district elected by universal adult suffrage;
(b) The member or members of Parliament from the constituencies that fall within the area of authority of the District Assembly as members without the right to vote;
(c) The District Chief Executive of the district; and
(d) Other members not being more than thirty per cent of all the members of the District Assembly, appointed by the President in consultation with the traditional authorities and other interest groups in the district.”
2. Article 243 which reads, “243 (1) There shall be a District Chief Executive for every district who shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds majority of members of the Assembly present and voting at the meeting.”
3. Article 243 (3) which says that:
“The office of District Chief Executive shall become vacant if:
(a) A vote of no confidence, supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all the members of the District Assembly is passed against him; or
(b) He is removed from office by the President; or
(c) He resigns or dies. “
What is at stake today is the White Paper the government issued after the receipt of the report prepared by the
Constitutional Review Commission appointed by the late President John Fiifi Atta Mills. With regard to the mode of selecting Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives:
“…Government does not accept the recommendation that Parliament should be empowered to determine specific mechanisms for choosing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives. Government does not also accept the recommendation that in Metropolises, Metropolitan Chief Executives should be popularly elected. Government is of the view that in decentralising in a unitary state, a delicate balance ought to be struck between central control and local autonomy. Consequently, Government is of the view that article 243 (1) of the Constitution should be amended for the President to nominate a minimum of five persons who would be vetted by the Public Services Commission for competence after which three nominees would contest in a public election.”
If the Constitution is amended as stated above, local development will continue to be dictated by Accra and will therefore not be based on the urgent priorities and needs of the local people. Our local areas will consequently continue to be under-developed.
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives must be elected at the local level by the people so that they, the people and not Accra, will have control on the development agenda of their local areas based on their established priorities.
This is the only way to ensure sustainable development at the local level. I am urging President John Dramani Mahama to cement a positive legacy as the one who saw wisdom in staring total power in the face and decided to give a big chunk of it back to the people in order to accelerate development at the local level.
The mode of selection which has been practiced to this day and which will only be slightly amended by the President's proposal, has not brought any appreciable level of development, especially at the district levels.
The Constitutional Review Implementation Committee, Parliament and the President should therefore as a matter of urgency, let the people elect their own local Chief Executives.
I encourage all Ghanaians to speak up and act positively for the right to elect their own Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives. It is an idea whose time has come and is now! - The writer is the 2012 presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party.
Article by Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom