The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has observed that the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) will help put to rest the argument that their appointment by the President gives too much power to the President and prevent the MMDCEs from being accountable to the people.
The Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for the Ofoase-Ayirebi constituency, made the observation when he had an encounter with the media in Bolgatanga, in the Upper East Region on Sunday as part of a prelude to the Town Hall Meeting which was held yesterday.
He said the 1992 constitution had also come under serious criticism due to the power it gave the President. That prompted the government under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to make a promise during the last election that when given the mandate he would change the trend.
He explained that it was in fulfilment of the campaign promise that the NPP government was going to conduct a national referendum on the election of the MMDCEs scheduled to coincide with the District Assembly election on December 17, 2019.
“President Akufo-Addo in fulfilment of the campaign promise is working to reverse that at least in the area of decentralisation and requires our full support to achieve that,” the Sector Minister stressed.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah who stated that to secure a yes vote, there would be the need to have a 40 per cent turnout at least, out of which 75 per cent vote yes, and stressed that it required a high level of public education and campaigns to get many people fully sensitised to take up the rare opportunity in which a sitting president devolves power to the citizens.
He stated that his outfit had already started the campaigns on the upcoming national referendum on the election of the MMDCEs and entreated the media and civil society organisations to join the crusade in intensifying the campaign to help deepen the country’s democracy.
The Regional Information Officer, Mr Bennin Issifu, told the Minister who was accompanied by his deputy, Mr Pius Hadzide that the region’s journalists were working hard to promote government’s programmes and policies and appealed to the Ministry to empower them to do more.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, BOLGATANGA
