From now up to December 17, prospective candidates who are vying to become assembly members are vigorously campaigning to solicit for votes.
In many communities across the country, candidates have mounted posters and campaign materials that can be seen in all corners of the country.
Candidates who have put themselves up for election are also campaigning and explaining to voters why they must be voted for.
This is not the first time that voters would be voting to elect assembly members but the December election is unique in many forms.
What makes it different from previous district level elections is that, the election of assembly and unit committee members would take place the same day as a referendum to amend Article 55 (3) of the 1992 constitution in order to allow political parties participate directly in local governance.
Knowing that partisan politics is going to be introduced into local governance if the “Yes” vote should win in the upcoming election, candidates have embarked on the most vigorous campaigns to woo voters to elect them to the assemblies.
We do not have the numbers yet to compare but the sheer number of candidates whose posters are displayed in the communities tell that the number of candidates vying have increased considerably.
The Ghanaian Times would not be surprise if the candidates are more than the previous elections because we see a lot more activities than the previous elections.
This then brings us to the quality of candidates who are campaigning to be elected into office.
In all honesty, often times, candidates who get elected at the local level have been people whose only motivation for that office is to serve the people. On many occasions, not much thought is given to competence and integrity.
As a result, development activities at the local level suffer which has led many people to give up on participating in local level governance activities.
It is our wish, therefore, that only candidates with competence and integrity must be elected to the assemblies.
We are of the firm belief that it is only competence that can bring the best out of the candidates to support the district assemblies to promote local economic development.
We are hopeful that the new crop of assembly members would provide the leadership at the local level to deliver on their mandate and restore hope in the people.
The December election as have been already stated is a crucial one and the outcomes would change governance at the local level so we expect that the political players at the local level would be up to the task.
From 2020, the political heads at the local level would be elected on partisan lines but we expect that the elected assembly members would be competent enough to help them to steer the affairs successfully at the local level.
