The election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) will ensure consistency in the country’s governance structure, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, Technical Advisor at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, has said.
He noted that Ghanaians were given the opportunity to directly elect presidents, however, they were not the ultimate deciders at the local assembly level.
Dr Osae said these at a public lecture yesterday on the theme: “The 17th December national referendum: the role of citizens,” as part of activities to mark this year’s Civil Service Week celebration.
He explained that the election of MMDCEs would allow smaller political parties to participate in local governance.
Dr Osae called on all Ghanaians to come out in their numbers on December 17 to vote massively in favour of the referendum.
He said the Ministry of Local Government had presented a bill in parliament to amend article 243(1) as part of the roadmap to give back to the citizens the power to elect their own MMDCEs.
The technical advisor explained that once article 243(1) had been approved, the next important article to be amended was article 55 (3) as that article was entrenched provision, which parliament could not use its numbers to approve.
He said once approval has been given in the referendum for the elections, Ghanaians would vote on partisan basis just as they did for the President and Members of Parliament.
In an address, Nana Kwasi Agyekum-Dwamena, Head of the Civil Service, who spoke on the theme, said the achievement of the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda was pertinent for the country’s development.
To achieve the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda, he said there was the need to reposition the service, stressing that efforts were being made to restructure it to facilitate its achievement.
Mr Agyekum-Dwamena said various sectors of the service had introduced measures to provide quality service delivery, including using ICT, and announced that, the service would soon embark on an online appraisal system.
Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Chief of Staff, in a speech read on her behalf by Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Member of Parliament of Sefwi Wiawso and a Minister of State at the Presidency, expressed government’s commitment to support the Service to deliver cutting edge services to citizens and the private sector to meet the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.
As part of the event, the service launched a training manual, titled: “The operations of the civil and public service”, written by Mr E.O Attoh.
BY ALLIA NOSHIE
