Former Chairperson of the
Electoral Commission Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has stated that he expects ‘yes’
votes to win the day in the December 17, 2019, referendum on political party
participation in local level elections.
“The Idea was that people would consider
district level elections as a community activity, you would want to offer your
service to your community, you would offer yourself and be elected by the
community.
”But the system was hijacked by the political
parties, the challenge is that by law they are not supposed to be involved but
we all know that they are already involved, the intention has been flouted over
the years, we know political parties are so involved and I welcome the
impending change to allow political parties to take part in local election.
“I expect the ‘yes’
vote to win but ‘yes’ vote is the first step, the changes that happen thereafter
will be the critical part, if we compose district assembly on the same way we
compose our parliament, it will lead to a disaster at the local level, the only
solution will be mixed number proportional system,” Dr Afari-Gyan pointed out.
He indicated that he was part of the
consultative council which drafted the constitutional provision, which barred
political party involvement in local polls and bemoaned that the original
intention for the law had been violated by political parties.
Relatedly, the president has asked the
electorate to turnout in their numbers on December 17, 2019, vote ‘yes’ in the
referendum to repeal Article 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution, and obtain the
power to elect directly their own Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief
Executives.
The District Assembly concept, introduced some
31 years ago, under the Former President Jerry Rawlings era, was one of the
most important contributions to the improvement of governance.
It had led to the enhancement of participatory
involvement of the citizenry in local governance, it is time to deepen the
processes that was began 31 years ago, and entrust to them full sovereignty
over the election of MMDCEs and members of various assemblies.
Already,
members of the various assemblies elected directly in an allegedly non-partisan
way, and it is an open secret that the elections are non-partisan and the
political parties are deeply involved. -starrfmonline.com