‘Devolving partisan politics at local level risks ethnic sentiments’

Dr Amoako Baah, a political scientist, has cautioned that devolving partisan politics to the local level risks exacerbating a scenario in the strongholds of political parties, especially Ashanti Region because it is bigger geographically than the Volta Region.

“The referendum over the matter of whether or not parties should be allowed to take part in local government elections is a good thing but we must go about it carefully and meticulously,” he noted.

Dr Baah wondered how the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government could work with National Democratic Congress (NDC) Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) or vice-versa, should the referendum pass.

He warned that allowing political parties to sponsor candidates in local government elections could worsen the issue of tribalism because the two strongholds, Volta and Ashanti Regions, of the two biggest political parties, NPP and NDC, risk electing only MMDCEs of their respective parties irrespective of which party was in power at the Presidency.

“The situation can fuel exclusion of one or the other ethnic group depending on which party controls the presidency,” Dr Baah bemoaned and cited recent omission of some roads in the Volta Region from the government’s list of critical roads earmarked for construction next year when the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta read the 2020 budget in Parliament to buttress his point.

“We should have first allowed parliament to deal with Article 243 (1), a non-entrenched provision in the 1992 Constitution which only needs two-thirds majority to pass so as to make the position of MMDCEs electable before tackling the entrenched Article 55(3), which needs, at least, 40 per cent of the electorate to turn up to vote in a referendum and 75 per cent of them must vote yes for the amendment to take effect.

“As far as the consideration to allow political parties into the local government election arena is concerned, the country will plunge itself into a quagmire if 55(3) passes but 243 (1) doesn’t, we will be worsening matters in such a scenario, we should stop it and work at it carefully and patiently,” Dr Baah intimated. -classfmonline.com