The election of MMDCEs is the panacea to the challenges that confront the implementation of government programmes, Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, has observed.
The Minister avers if MMDCEs are elected, they will be more accountable to the people since their power would emanate from their localities.
It is for this reason that the minister says a Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia-led administration will be revisiting the election of MMDCEs if he is elected President.
Despite failing to achieve the promise of having municipal and district chief executives elected over lack of consensus, the sector minister has disclosed that the flag bearer of the NPP is set to get the promise fully captured in his manifesto ahead of the December elections.
Although a 2022 Afrobarometer report contends that more than two thirds of Ghanaians wanted MMDCEs elected, government failed to achieve that objective because it wanted the exercise to be done on partisan lines.
Whilst the government wanted the election to be organised on partisan basis, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) discarded that idea indicating it should not be organised on party lines.
In an exclusive with TV3’s Komla Klutse Friday, June 14, 2024, Mr. Adjei-Mensah Korsah noted that getting Ghana’s MMDCEs elected is the solution to the fruitful implementation of government’s programmes.
“If you look at the challenges that we have in our governance space, conflicts that mitigate against the programs that we want to implement, just because of the other interest other than the national interest. Elections of MMDCEs could solve it.
“You don’t have a situation where somebody feels unaccountable to their chief executive, and or the chief executive feels that I’m not accountable to somebody. The elections will cure it. It will make people more accountable. People will have to face a certain body for approval. And so they are more accountable to the people. It is the best way to go. But I think that there is another opportunity to try it,” he said.
The Minister also revealed the measures the government has put in place to ensure consensus is built, so that the next time the issue comes up, it will receive an overwhelming support from both political divide.
“We have to deepen the consensus. The president, through that duty, [has gone] back to the local government to work and build enough consensus. So the Institute of Local Governance Service in Madina (a suburb of Accra) is charged with that responsibility of engaging further with stakeholders. They’ve done some bit of work. I’m not sure where they are. But overall, they’ve been building the consensus process, meeting and engaging with people and discussing the matter,” he added.
The Techiman South Member of Parliament also disclosed that the initiative is part of the Vice President’s priorities.
“We believe that it’s a good thing. And once we secure enough consensus devoid of partisan interest, we should be able to push this through,” he was confident.
