Former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof. Stephen Adei has reignited the debate on election of MMDCEs by calling for the amendment of the 1992 constitution.
According to him, it is wrong for the president of any nation to be responsible for appointing every District Chief Executive (DCE), Board member and Chief Executive Officer of public institutions, a situation he said is only entrenching the phenomenon of winner takes all.
He also argued that the way the 1992 constitution is structured, only gives much power to the President which can be easily abused., adding that it is time the country departs from “this old thinking and embrace what we can adopt to bring us development”.
“Once again, our Constitution, despite the fact that it has served us for so long, has a lot of weaknesses because it was made to suit a dictator trying to turn himself into a civilian and keeping as much powers as possible.”
“I think it is wrong for the president of any nation to be responsible for appointing every DCE, appointing every board of public institutions, appointing CEOs; that is wrong,” he stated.
Professor Adei’s comments were in relation to recent violent scenes that greeted the announcement of MMDCEs.
Prof Adei recalled how he was part of a seven-member committee appointed by the IEA with the Archbishop Palmer-Buckle and Emile Short to study and recommend certain aspects of the constitution that needed change “and we came out and said there are certain things that must be changed to reduce the winner-takes-all”.
“However, it’s not going to be easy”, he admitted.
“These two tribes, which I call NDC and NPP, once they are in power, they enjoy those privileges, they become only concerned when they are in opposition and, therefore, the likelihood that they will agree on these changes is very slim.”
It would be recalled that Progressive People’s Party (PPP) at a recent press briefing, has also said Ghana’s 1992 has outlived its usefulness and must be amended to reflect the changing global politics and good governance.
This the party said should be carried out before the next Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2024.
The Party said amendments would eliminate loopholes that created opportunities for corruption for rapid socio-economic development.
One of such loopholes identified by the party is Articles 242(d) and Articles 243(1) and 243(3) which the party said must be amended to return power to the people for all Ghanaians to directly elect their district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives without any interference from the President and also cancel government appointees into the District Assemblies.
