"MMDCE Election Expected, Amend Bill Now" – Coalition of MPs

General News of Monday, July 29, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-07-29

A group called the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations on the National Referendum and the Election of the Members of the MMDCE (CSO-CoNaFEM) urges Parliament to speed up the actions aimed at amending Section 243 (1) of the Constitution .

The bill, which seeks to amend an article of the constitution, if pbaded, will make the election of the MMDCES on a partisan basis constitutional.

This week, Parliament again debated the bill, which is part of a major New Patriotic election promise in the run-up to the 2016 election.

A statement issued by the group encouraged minorities and the majority not to waste time and agree on a bipartisan approach to amend the bill in order to consolidate the country's democratic credentials.

"CSO-CoNaFEM calls on both political parties to ensure a bipartisan consensus to amend this provision to elect MMDCEs to improve local democracy and popular participation in governance at the local level. The proposal to give the people the power to elect their own executive heads was long overdue. The election of MMDCEs is essential to improve grbadroots democracy, ensure popular participation and improve accountability and governance at the local level. In the last elections, almost all political parties promised to ensure that the MMDCEs were elected by the people. "

"It is now.The coalition urges our honorable members, both the NDC and the NPP, to put the national interest before any other considerations and to respond to the wishes of the people by voting overwhelmingly for this amendment. We believe that this will be the beginning of a democratic synergy between the mode of election of national and local leaders. "

The government has declared that its commitment to organize a constitutional election of the directors of municipalities, municipalities and districts (MMDCE) is under way.

To this end, he indicated that the Electoral Commission (EC) had organized a referendum for the polls on Tuesday, 10 December 2019.

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, said that the roadmap for the development of the various phases of the election of the MMDCE was being developed.