Accra, Nov. 19, GNA – The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) has asked government to immediately resume discussions on the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to consolidate Ghana’s democratic gains.
It also made a strong case for government to revisit recommendations made by the Constitution Review Commission on the amendment of some sections of the 1992 Constitution to consolidate the country’s democracy.
Mr Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director of IDEG, who made the call at an engagement with selected media practitioners in Accra, said “these would consolidate the county’s democratic gains and address the short falls.”
The meeting was to update the media on proposals for local governance reforms and solicit their views on how the media could increase citizen’s awareness and mobilise broad based support to reconstruct and transform the over 29 years’ system.
The Constitution Review Commission set up by late President, Professor John Evans Atta-Mills, in January 2010, to consult with the people of Ghana on the operation of the 1992 Constitution and on any changes that needed to be made to the Constitution, called for the amendment of 97 articles, including 41 entrenched clauses.
However, these recommendations have been ignored by subsequent governments more than a decade after they were made.
Mr Akwetey, said government must take a look at the recommendations and see how best such proposals could be amended to strengthen the country’s democracy and bring development to its people.
He admitted that even though it was impossible to amend all 97 articles at a go without triggering constitutional crisis, sections that could be changed through parliamentary procedure must immediately begin to allow for better education of the populace to enable them to make informed decisions.
“The 30 years we have had has opened our eyes to some of the things that we can do to strengthen the system and overcome the weaknesses and so let us build on those rather than stand there tolerating everything and then the system collapses,” he said.
Between 2018 and 2019, the NPP government pursued the amendment of Article 55(3) to enable multiparty participation at the districts and 243(1) for the election of MMDCES, in order to reform the local governance system and devolve more power and resources to the local communities.
However, the national referendum scheduled for December 17, 2019 was cancelled for lack of adequate public knowledge and broad-based consensus on the reforms it will entail.
Since then, both the NPP government and the opposition NDC have restated their commitment to reset and pursue local government reforms.
While the NPP’s agenda on local government reforms include direct and popular election of MMDCEs; legalisation of political parties’ participation in local government and the devolution of more power and resources to local authorities, the opposition NDC propose the election of MMDCE and implementing recommendations on local government and decentralisation by the CRC/CRIC.
Dr Akwetey explained that even though both positions would require constitutional amendment to enable their proposals to be implemented, building consensus would facilitate the process.
He, therefore, urged government to immediately begin building consensus to ensure a smooth amendment of the said articles and appealed to the media to help educate the public to reduce misconceptions about the process.
Results of a recent CDD-Ghana post-2020 election survey indicated that 76 per cent of Ghanaians want the election of MMDCES, while 71 per cent of them want this election to be conducted on non-partisan basis.
Mr Kwesi Jonah, Senior Research Fellow at IDEG, reiterated the need for the establishment of an independent regulatory body to check the conduct of political parties to bring sanity to the democratic system in the country.
He also called for the establishment of a multiparty democracy fund to support political parties and level the playing field for smaller parties to thrive.
GNA