The election of District Chief Executives and Metropolitan Chef Executives (MCEs) will go a long way to ensure greater transparency and accountability at the assembly level, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, Dean of Graduate Studies at the Institute of Local Government Studies, has observed.
According to him, should DCEs and the MCEs be elected, they will feel empowered to demand accountability from the central government without fear of victimisation.
His comment follows the Akufo-Addo-led government’s reiteration to push for the election of DCEs and MCEs.
Speaking during her vetting on Monday January 23, Local Government Minister-designate Hajia Alima Mahama said: “We are committed to our manifesto promise of electing MMDCEs, we are committed to the process. Definitely it involves a lot of processes and we specifically stated that we would elect MMDCEs within a two-year framework and we are committed to the process.”
She added: “The Constitutional Review Commission was not entirely against this process; it provided that there should be direct election for the metropolitan assemblies and a different kind for municipal, whereas for the district assembly the status should remain. That was the recommendation, so it is not entirely against it. So we’re proposing that we should elect district chief executives – I believe that it is in tune with the constitutional provision.
“If you look at the directive principle of state policy, Article 35, it says that we should ensure that democracy becomes a reality by decentralising political administration and financial resources and ensuring that every citizen feels part of the decision making in every aspect of national life and I believe that if we elect district assemblies it’s one way of accountability. We will get them to be accountable to the citizens.
“For instance, parliament’s role is actually legislation but we all want to do development programmes in our constituencies because at the constituency level, people are looking for development. Therefore, if we have a DCE who is supporting development in the constituency and accountable to the people, I think that is the best way to go for it.”
Although there are fears that the election of DCEs and MCEs will have dire consequence in Ghana, Dr Osae, in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra100.5FM on Tuesday January 24, said: “Currently, the president appoints DCEs and because of that they normally don’t listen to those at the assembly when things are not going well. Even if they listen to those concerns, they are not proactive in dealing with the matter because they know that it is only the president who can remove him.
“Even though the assembly can use two-thirds majority to remove the DCE, it is difficult to get that two-thirds majority because one-third of the assembly members are government appointees and so they are on his side. And so, it is always difficult to activate the two-thirds majority. The current status quo results in disagreements between the regional ministers and the DCEs because they both feel that they were appointed by the president.
“Again, if the Common Fund delays in coming, the DCE cannot complain out of fear of victimisation or removal and when it happens like this, it makes accountability and transparency in local governance difficult. But when they are elected, they will feel empowered to make noise when the Common Fund delays and ensure transparency and accountability.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
