By Yussif Ibrahim, GNA
Kumasi Aug. 06, GNA – The Local Governance Network (LOGNet), a civil society advocacy coalition, has rejected the proposed model for the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), describing it as a “pseudo-reform” that retains executive control over local governance.
A statement issued by the Network and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the proposal, which allows the President to nominate five candidates to be vetted before three were presented to constituents for election, failed to deliver genuine political decentralisation and denied citizens the full right to elect their local leaders.
The statement argued that the proposal merely replaced the current system of presidential nomination with what it described as a “pre-filtered” process that continued to restrict democratic choice and executive influence over local governance.
LOGNet said available evidence from governance studies showed that majority of Ghanaians supported the direct election of MMDCEs without presidential pre-selection.
It cited findings from Afrobarometer, the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), and recent local governance research, which it said consistently indicated strong public support for direct, non-partisan elections and greater accountability of local leaders to residents rather than the central government.
The Network said the proposed model would preserve central executive control, weakened downward accountability, and undermined inclusive participation, by preventing qualified citizens from freely contesting local leadership positions.
It maintained that if candidates depended on presidential nomination to appear on the ballot, their allegiance would remain with the appointing authority instead of the communities they were expected to serve.
LOGNet, therefore, called for complete political decentralisation through an open, transparent and non-partisan local election process that would allow citizens to directly nominate, elect and hold MMDCEs accountable.
The Network urged civil society organisations, think tanks, the media and grassroot groups, to oppose any legislation that retained executive control over local government and to advocate reforms that vested the power to choose local leaders entirely in the electorate.
It said: “Decentralisation without total popular mandate is merely central control by another name,” adding that Ghanaians deserved the absolute power to choose their leaders without presidential pre-selection.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Yussif Ibrahim, GNA
Email: [email protected]