Ghana’s local government system needs reforms – Dr Akwetey
The Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, is urging stakeholders, particularly political figures to as a matter of urgency, address the growing dissatisfaction among the populace concerning the country’s current local government system.
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He expressed the concern that many Ghanaians feel that the current system of local government was not addressing their basic needs, including job creation healthcare, and education.
He noted that many of the people who are frustrated by the system had lost hope and had been calling for military coups, a situation he noted, needed to be addressed with urgency.
Dr Akwetey made the remarks at a panel discussion during the 75th Annual New Year School and Conference (ANYSC) at the University of Ghana on January 9, 2024.
IDEG on local government
The IDEG’s boss who was speaking on the topic: “Local Government System, Election 2024, Security and Peace building” said many Ghanaians believe that the country’s local government system had failed to address issues such as corruption.
He said whereas there had been concerns of growing poverty among the populace, the political class appeared to be living affluent lifestyles, hence causing anger among the populace.
For Dr Akwetey, the country’s democracy “is at risk and there is the need to look at the issues” threatening the country’s democracy.
He explained that the local government system is instrumental in meeting the needs of the people, hence must be made to work effectively.
For him, the hybrid type of democracy that the country was practicing had failed completely and must be relooked at, saying “the threat to our stability is real.”
Dr Akwetey pointed out that even though the current system had brought some level of stability in the country’s governance system as well as development, there was much to be desired.
For him, the reason for the prohibition of political party participation in district-level elections had been defeated, needing reforms to ensure that political parties’ involvement in the local government was key.
He stressed that the Institute for Democratic Governance was championing proposals towards reforms of the country’s local government system.
The reforms, he indicated, were to ensure inclusive governance and the regulation of post-election behaviour of political parties and effective public service delivery.
The proposals by IDEG for the local government reforms included the creation of a Council for Local Development and Governance (CLDG) to integrate traditional leaders into the development process, recognising their critical place in Ghanaian society and the introduction of the Mixed Member Proportional Representation system (MMPR) to enhance the representation of often marginalised groups in local governance.
Critical issues
For Dr Akwetey, the reforms would also help to address the growing disenchantment towards the existing system as well as ensure political parties’ participation in local government.
He explained that the current lack of consensus on the approach to the reforms presented both a challenge and an opportunity between those opposing the involvement of political parties in local government and those advocating for it.
He maintained that while the 1992 Constitution has proven to be the country’s most resilient constitution, in the course of the three decades in which it has been in force, “we have witnessed Ghana’s steady decline into a winner-takes-all system where political leaders are now more motivated by the desire to capture power than to exercise true stewardship of affairs of state.”
For Dr Akwetey, “There is now a more or less entrenched political duopoly in which two big political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), alternate control of the executive and legislature to the total exclusion of the other 27 registered political parties.”
That, he observed, these two political parties are so dominant that since 2016, none of the other political parties have been able to win a seat in parliament.
Dr Akwetey explained that the control of state power at the local government level was equally concentrated in the hands of these two parties because of Article 55(3) of the constitution which prevents political parties from participating in local governance.
“This constitutional provision allows the president to appoint all metropolitan, municipal, and district chief executives (MMDCEs) as well as the 30 percent of assembly members, all of whom also happen to be affiliated with the president’s party. Hence, this institutional set-up, rather than preventing the participation of political parties in local governance, actual hands over the control of executive power at all levels of the state to the ruling party while excluding all others,” he explained.
Dr Akwetey said to create an enabling environment for political and economic transformation, the systemic problems with the local government had to be addressed first.
Party-based system
Also speaking at the panel, a former Dean, Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ghana, Professor Atsu Ayee, said it would be better for the country to go party-based local government system than the current type that prevented political parties participation in such elections.
He noted that the current local government system had been fragmented such that “they are not viable.”
He explained that the difference between the developed world and the country was that the developed world has effective local government system.
Prof. Ayee also called for the building of strong institutions that would be able to deal with the challenges associated with the country’s current local government system.