CLGA calls for extension of current Assemblies' tenure

Accra, March 4, GNA - The Centre for Local Governance Advocacy (CLGA), has appealed to government to forestall the potential vacuum in local governance, by extending the tenure of current District Assemblies beyond their impending end.

The Centre noted with worry that the Supreme Court's ruling of the District Level Elections as 'unconstitutional' and its subsequent suspension, implies that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), will   be in suspense,   since the tenure of the Assemblies is due to end on March 14.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Electoral Commission to start the process of the District Level Elections afresh, following a suit filed by Mr. Benjamin Eyi Mensah, a fisherman from Winneba, who was denied the opportunity to contest the elections.

A statement issued by the Centre and signed by the Acting Executive Director, Dr. Vladimir Antwi Danso, noted that the MMDAs are "the bedrock of our local governance."

The statement expressed worry about both with the constitutionality of allowing current assembly members to work beyond the end of their tenure, and with the lack of representation, in the event that the MMDAs are left in the hands of technocrats and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

The Centre is, therefore, calling on the President, Parliament and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, to extend the tenure of the current Assemblies, by drawing from a constitutional provision which allows a dissolved Parliament to be recalled, in times of emergency.

Article 113(3) of the 1992 Constitution states: 'Where, after a dissolution of Parliament, but before the holding of a general election, the President is satisfied that owing to the existence of a state of war or a state of public emergency in Ghana or any part of Ghana, it is necessary to recall Parliament, the President shall cause to be summoned the Parliament that has been dissolved to meet'

GNA