Parliament should speed up the adoption of an amendment bill – Hajia Alima Mahama | Policy

At just five months of the referendum on the election of the heads of Metropolitan, Municipal and District (MMDCE), the Parliament still has to adopt the draft amendment bill of Article 243, paragraph 1 , which is currently submitted to him.

Article 243, as it stands, provides: "Each district shall appoint a district president appointed by the president, with the prior consent of a two-thirds majority of the members of the district. present and voting. "

Because of this article, the adoption of the bill amending the law is very important to signal that the country is ready to organize the referendum on the election of MMDCE, scheduled for next December.

Minister's concerns

This is one of the concerns of the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, when the Daily Graphic asked her how her ministry was preparing for the referendum.

"The time has come and not later and we want Parliament to pbad the amendment bill of section 243 (1) in order to send a strong signal that MMDCEs will now be elected.

"Parliament must send this signal; this reinforces the pressure for the election of MMDCEs, as well as for the amendment of other consecutive articles, including Article 55, "she said.

Bipartite approach

According to the minister, the Parliament should adopt a bipartite approach to allow local democracy to deepen in the country.

This, she said, would strengthen participation in local governance and also ensure that local authority leaders are accountable to citizens.

"Our system of local governance is essential to accelerate national development efforts. If, at the local level, good governance practices and policies are non-existent or weak, development will generally be undermined or stifled, "she said.

"We need strong and responsible structures at the local level to promote democracy," she added.

Decentralization in progress

According to Hajia Mahama, although significant progress has been made after many years in the implementation of the current system of decentralization and local government, some gray areas needed improvements in order to deepen participatory governance and local democracy.

She cited the election of MMDCE by citizens on a partisan basis, along with the election mode of leaders at the national level, as one of those gray areas.

Bridging the governance gap

To bridge this governance gap, it is recalled that some political parties, including the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP), in view of the 2016 general elections, have promised in their manifestos to elect MMDCEs.

Since 1988 MMDCEs have been appointed by the President. Currently, sections 243 of the 1992 Constitution and 20 of the Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) provide for the office and give the President the power to appoint MMDCEs. prior approval of the two-thirds majority of the members of the District Assemblies present and voting.

Need for change

According to Hajia Mahama, a number of governance institutions, including the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Center for Democratic Development of Ghana (Ghana-CSD) have supported the need to change the method of appointment of MMDCEs.

In addition, she added, the report of the Constitutional Review Commission on the 1992 Constitution and a survey conducted at the 2019 New Year School at the University of Ghana indicated support for the election of the MMDCE on a partisan basis.

She said that Ghana was not alone in pushing for the popular election of its local leaders, saying that "the popular election of local leaders by citizens has become one of the most accepted best practices around the world to deepen local democracy ".

She mentioned Uganda, Kenya, Namibia, The Gambia, Senegal, South Africa, and Zambia as African countries, adding that other countries sharing the same length of time were not included. wave were the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Canada.

Hajia Mahama said Ghana's decision to elect its MEICs on a partisan basis was in line with global best practices in local governance and in line with democratic theory and public accountability.

Context

In 2017, the government launched a process to bring about the constitutional, legal, political and institutional changes necessary to give effect to the campaign promise to elect MEWDs in a partisan manner.

In his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) addressed to Parliament by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2018, he stated that his government was committed to electing MEWDs in partisan fashion.

He reiterated his commitment to ensure the election of MMDCEs in his SoNA of 2019 in Parliament.

But to elect MMDCEs on a partisan basis, one must amend Article 243, paragraph 1, which is not a rooted provision, and the amendment of an embedded provision, the 39, Article 55 (3), which Parliament shall examine and pbad.