Amend Law On Election Of MMDCEs

The President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), Mr Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah, has called for an amendment of Act 462 of the Constitution to allow for a simple majority for the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

He said the current arrangement where Chief Executives were elected by two thirds majority of the Assembly created a situation for the President’s choice of a DCE to be rejected resulting in the district operating without a political head for a long time.

He cited the cases of the Birim Central Municipal Chief Executive, Madam Ophelia Koomson, and her counterpart at Shama, Ms Emelia Arthur, whose nominations were rejected on a number of occasions by their respective assemblies as a result of their inability to garner the two-thirds majority to be approved.

Sharing his concerns with the Daily Graphic in Accra, Mr Aidoo-Mensah also advocated amendment of the Constitution to enable payments of allowances and ex-gratia for assembly members to be paid from the consolidated fund rather than the district’s internally generated funds.

He expressed concern on the untimely release of the District Assembly Common Fund which he pointed out impeded development as it worsened the financial problems of the assemblies adding that inadequate infrastructure coupled with lack of qualified staff, especially in the newly created districts, was a bane to expediting the needed infrastructural development at the local level.

“We appeal for further release of the third quarter allocation of the common fund as the delay is further worsening the financial problems of the assemblies,” he stressed.

Mr Aidoo-Mensah who also conveyed these concerns to the Ministerial Advisory Council of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development said inimical legislations militating against decentralisation such as the procurement law was a contributory factor to slowing down the procurement of the needed logistics required to facilitate local government administration.

On the election of DCEs, he stated that the National Executive Committee of the NALAG held the view that electing such officers could further polarise the nation “as characterised in our contemporary politics” and, thus, called for that position to be reconsidered.

While calling on the government to assist the association with vehicles to improve on its operations, the NALAG president pledged to collaborate and compliment central government’s efforts in providing quality service delivery at the local level.