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Policy of Monday, June 10, 2019
Source: checkoutghana.com
2019-06-10
President Akufo-Addo
A pressure and advocacy group, the We Matter People Movement (WTPM), congratulated the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for taking into account calls for the election of metropolitan and municipal district leaders.
According to a statement signed by the group's president, Dr. Sa-ad Iddrisu, "we are grateful to President Nana Addo for listening to and considering the proposal for the election of the Assemblies. District and municipal leaders in his speech on the state of the nation. (SONA) 2019 speech ".
"We hope that the process of decentralization will proceed in accordance with the African Charter on the Value and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Development".
"In February, the We The People Matter movement added our voice to calls for the election of MMCEs at district badembly level."
"Our press release entitled" Decentralization of Parliament and ECM / ECD elections in Ghana: Can we hold another referendum? ", Has been taken up by many newspapers and online news portals," the statement said.
The statement expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo for listening to and considering the proposal regarding the election of district bademblies, metropolitan and municipal leaders in his 2019 SONA speech.
Read the statement below
We hope that decentralization will be done in accordance with the African Charter of Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development signed by the African Union (AU) Member States in Equatorial Guinea.
While we look forward to a peaceful referendum by the Electoral Commission (EC) on December 10, we would like to add some suggestions for making the decentralization process a success, not a white elephant.
1. The 1992 Constitution should have clearly defined qualification criteria for MMCEs, like MPs.
2. A District Development Authority (DDA) should be established in each district. This should include the elected chief executive, district deputies, chiefs, heads of institutions (eg district education director, etc.) and leaders of the district. opinion.
The DP should be the body responsible for running the affairs and development of the districts.
3. The term of office of the elected executive heads shall not be concurrent with that of the presidential and general legislative elections.
A separate election period should be organized for the MMCE elections and their term should be limited to 5 or 7 years.
This could be costly for taxpayers for the organization of separate elections; However, the long-term benefits of not turning the MMCE elections into another political jamboree every four years, like the presidential and legislative elections, are far more important.
4. We must give importance to the deputies at the local level. They are the direct representatives of the people and, through them, the executive head will have first-hand information on the development needs of each locality in his district. This could then be presented to the DDA meeting by the Director General.
5. There should be a law empowering the DP to sue the central government when pooled funds of district bademblies are not delivered on time to one or the other of the districts.
6. The DDA should not rely solely on the Common Fund.
They should be able to generate local taxes such as the property tax. Our tax laws should also be reviewed to allow a tax of less than 1% on the wages of workers in each district. These taxes should go directly to the districts.
7. All agencies and departments of the state should also be effectively decentralized.
For example, a teacher from Koforidua should not have to go to Accra for his salary problems to be solved by the controller.
The District Comptroller and Accountant General's Office should be able to resolve the problem of compensation amicably.
Similarly, a person from the Savelugu district should not be required to travel to Accra to obtain a pbadport. These services should be provided at the district level.
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