Dialogue on assembly elections held in Accra
The vexed question of whether the district-level elections should be made partisan or not dominated the dialogue by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) at the Kofi Annan-India Centre in Accra yesterday.
Advertisement
Also high on the agenda were whether Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMCEs) should be elected or appointed and enhancing women participation in the decision-making process.
Consensus could, however, not be reached on a definite action to address those concerns. The panellists and participants opined that there was the need for a continued debate on the issues as the country marched towards consolidating her democracy.
Dialogue
The dialogue, the fourth in the series by the NCCE, was used to launch a report on ‘’Assessing the effectiveness of the district assemblies in Ghana’s democracy’’.
The participants agreed that even though the 1992 Constitution was explicit on a non-partisan local government, some aspiring assembly members and political parties covertly supported some assembly members in district assembly elections.
Findings
According to the findings of the research, 69 per cent of respondents vouched for the district assemblies to be voted on partisan lines, while 31 per cent was against.
The research also indicated that 69.4 per cent of respondents called for MMDCEs to be elected as against 30.6 per cent who insisted that they should be appointed. It further called for an increase in the quota for appointing women into the district assemblies.
Constitution
Article 248 Clause One of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that a candidate seeking election to a district assembly or any lower local government unit shall present himself to the electorate as an individual, and shall not use any symbol associated with any political party.
Clause Two of the Article further states that a political party shall not endorse, sponsor, offer a platform to or in any way campaign for or against a candidate seeking election to a district assembly or any lower government unit .
Professor Ahwoi
A former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, the longest serving minister of the sector, pointed out the challenges in electing MMDCEs. He said a situation where an elected chief executive assumed that since he was elected by the people at the local level he had no allegiance to the government could create confusion.
Professor Ahwoi cited instances in East Africa which had created ethnic and tribal hegemony and preponderance of the majority against the minority with deep-seated animosity and conflicts.
He said considering the political history of the country which was divided along the lines of federalism to a unitary state during the struggle for independence, the people should be spared any attempts to draw them back to ethnic divisions.
Professor Ahwoi also argued that some of the recommendations by the constitutional review committee on the decentralisation process should be subjected to thorough debate for policy intervention and not necessarily through legislation.
According to him, those arguing for the election of MMDCEs did not understand the intricacies of governance and, therefore, did not have the requisite experience in the matter.
Prof. Ahwoi said until people, especially women, were empowered to actively participate in local governance, no legislation would compel them to take active part in the process.
He queried what would happen in a situation where women were given a quota in either Parliament or the district assemblies and they were unable to fill those positions. He thus called for continued sensitisation to encourage women to offer themselves for elections.
Dr Mahama
The Head of the Local Government Service, Dr Callistus Mahama, said nothing prevents agents of political parties, opinion leaders, traditional rulers, the clergy, among others from influencing decisions at the local level.
He said the winner-takes-all system should also be addressed to enhance the level of participation of the people in local governance.
Dr Mahama also called for the strengthening of grassroots institutions such as the unit committees to enable the people feel the impact of decentralisation.
He said the non-partisan district assembly had been practiced for over two decades and needed to be deepened to impact positively on the lives of the people.
Commendation
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Alhaji Collins Dauda, commended the NCCE for the research which highlighted some of the challenges of the assemblies.
A Deputy Director of Research of the NCCE, Ms Patience Sally Kumah, said the purpose of the study was to assess and identify the effectiveness of the performance of the district assemblies in the development agenda of the country.
