Vice-President of IMANI-AFRICA, Kofi Bentil, has revealed that political party participation is not needed in the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).
Mr Bentil indicated that President Akufo-Addo’s call for Article 55(3) to be amended to allow political parties to participate in the election of MMDCEs will not be necessary for the country. He noted that it is not mandatory for District Chief Executives (DCEs) and Municipal Chief Executives (MCEs) to be elected on partisan basis.
The IMANI-AFRICA Vice President explained that DCEs and MCEs can be elected without amending any entrenched clauses in the Constitution.
“I think that one of the things which the President can do is to make sure we elect DCEs and MCEs and I disagree with the President when he says that we need to amend the entrenched clauses before we can do that. We do not need to amend to elect our DCEs and MCEs. We can elect them tomorrow by an Act of Parliament, but political party participation in that process is what requires amendment. We don’t need political party participation to elect DCEs and MCEs, so indeed I think the President can deliver on that issue without forcing us to go through a referendum to do an amendment.”
Kofi Bentil
Mr. Bentil called on President Akufo-Addo to change the current pattern of DCEs and MCEs being appointed by politicians.
“If he doesn’t achieve this, it will be unpardonable. I mean at best, we would say that he failed, but at worst we would say that the President does not even intend for us to do that. In fact, politicians in office like it that they appoint DCEs and MCEs”.
Kofi Bentil
President Akufo-Addo committed to repeal Article 55(3)
President Akufo-Addo in his address on Thursday April 28, 2022, to commemorate the 30 years since the promulgation of the 1992 Constitution iterated his commitment to repeal Article 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution which prevents political parties from participating in the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).
The President revealed that the amendment of the Article of the Constitution would enable a healthy body politic and deepen decentralisation of the country’s democracy.
“It was and continues to be in my view that the repeal or modification of an entrenched clause in the Constitution should attract widespread support to make it acceptable and healthy for the body politic. We should further bear in mind the strong attachment of the Ghanaian people to the multi-party democratic elections.”
President Akufo-Addo
On the average, President Akufo-Addo explained that the turnout for national elections in the 4th Republic has been 72%, which is one of the highest in the world. However, the turnout for the “allegedly non-partisan local government elections” has always hovered around 30%.
President Akufo-Addo expressed optimism that after completing the necessary consultations, he will be in a position to announce a way forward on the matter.
“I have said it before, and I will repeat it: I will continue to work for an extensive national consensus on this issue… Should such a consensus be attained for the repeal of Article 55(3) of the Constitution, and an agreement reached for political parties to participate in and sponsor candidates for election to district assemblies, at any point during my remaining tenure of office as President of the Republic, the matter will be brought back again to the front burner of our public discourse for the necessary action.”
President Akufo-Addo
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