Elect MMDCEs, or put up with the confusion

The 2016 Presidential Candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and President of Groupe Nduom, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom has reiterated his call for the election and resourcing of MMDCEs to ensure development at the micro-level.

His comments came in the wake of recent developments, where there were a lot of agitation and confusion over the acceptance of some MMDCEs across the country.

It will be recalled that during the 2016 electioneering campaign, the PPP and its flagbearer Dr Nduom championed this course, calling for the political will to give the franchise to the people at the local level to elect their chief executives.

Speaking on Accra-based Eezy FM, Dr Nduom said the trend where governing political parties appoint mayors and district executives to advance their parties’ goals of re-election is archaic and fruitless. He explained that this is because incumbent governments have still lost elections despite such appointments.

Considering recent scandals that have wrecked the appointments of district executives across the country, Dr Nduom quizzed why MMDCEs are still being appointed when it has offered no incentive for development.

He said, “Ghana will benefit greatly when the people are able to cast a vote to elect their own Metropolitan Municipal District Executives.”

“Ghanaians were smart enough to vote for a president, smart enough to vote for a member of parliament, smart enough to vote for an assembly member and then they are certainly smart enough to vote for their own chief executive,” he added.

He said the district assembly formed an integral part of the governance structure of the country, hence the need for successive governments to resource them.