By Eunice Hilda A. Mensah
Accra, Dec.13, GNA – Ms Kathleen Addy, Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has called on the public to vote in the next District Level Election (DLE) on December 19 to elect Assembly and Unit Committee members.
This would enable the citizens to demand accountability and progress from them, she argued.
“As citizens, we are constantly looking to find upstanding tax paying citizens of the land to work in the Assemblies and Unit committees, and if citizens take interest in how the Assembly is run, things will move more smoothly.
“If you have a problem of a broken drain, this is not a problem for a central government, a Minister or an MP but a problem for the assembly to make sure that is resolved,” Ms. Addy she said.
She made the call at a meeting with the media in Accra on Wednesday ahead of the DLE.
Ms Addy explained that the elected Assembly and Unit Committee Members were to serve communities and address their needs in areas like sanitation, road works, issuing licenses, and tax collection.
“The taxes and district assembly common fund would then be used to develop the districts,” she explained.
Ms. Addy, said that it was the civic responsibility of Ghanaians to vote, and urged all eligible voters to vote on December 19 to avert the low turnout that had plagued the DLEs for years.
She said that aside from the opportunity to hold elected officials accountable, voting in the DLE enabled voters to participate in decision-making processes at the local governance level.
“So, we need a very vibrant local level election. We need to vote to make our democracy work. The 30 per cent turnout is not acceptable,” she said.
Ms Addy lamented the non-election of local government heads (Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives), claiming that it made some members of the public feel disconnected from local governance.
“It is my hope that it soon gets to a point where they are elected, probably this will help with the turnout we see for District Level Elections,” she said.
Ms. Addy said the NCCE was raising awareness about the elections and educating the public of their civic duty through jingles on traditional and social media, as well as deploying staff to talk to people about the elections at social gatherings.
She urged the media and members of the public who were interested in the election to enlighten others and stir up their interest to in the important election to bridge the governance structure gap.
Ghana will hold a District Level Election on December 19 this year to elect Assembly and Unit Committee members for their local Assemblies.
GNA