Formalize political party involvement in local elections - Agyarko

Tuesday’s district level elections like previous ones failed to attract a larger participation from the public. Although the exact turnout is yet to be determined, reports indicate patronage was extremely low.

There have been theories about the continued low patronage of the local government elections. Chief among them is the general public apathy towards the polls.

Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency, Emmanuel KyerematengAgyarkobelieves the best way to boost the fortunes of the district-level polls is to politicize the involvement of political parties.

“This bit about it is not partisan is a sham and we must get away from it” he said on MultiTV’s AM Show.

According to him, “formalizing it (political party involvement) is the way to go. It will make it attractive.”

Mr. Agyarko, who has been a former assembly member and presiding member in the Lower Manya Krobo district, said local government experts need to further examine the challenges associated with the local government elections and propose solutions.

“After we spend so much money on this thing it must benefit this country. You go to an assembly and the assembly members have been elected by 10 or 15 percent of the electorate is it representative?” he queried.

But deputy Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister, Alexander Ackon said the challenges with the district-level polls go beyond formally allowing political parties to get involved.

“Even at the top level people are talking about funding. We’ve discussed political party funding for a long time. Now we want to go down and seek funding at that level. There’s also a problem there,” he said.

Mr. Ackon also argued that “the local structures are not too strong at the unit committee level which should be very powerful”. This if rectified, he believes, would draw people closer to governance at the grassroots level.

For him, the challenge with the district level election is not simply a matter of making it partisan or non-partisan. Instead, he suggests we question the kind of impact we desire.

“We’re only talking about impact on the basis that political parties will mobilize people for voting. Will that end in that development?” he asked.