A scamful political promise

“Let the politicians know; a new generation of youths have arrived in Ghana. They are curious, strong-willed, confident and ambitious. A new wind of political literacy is blowing. We are advising ourselves appropriately“. – Efo Korku Mawutor. Ghanaians will start electing their Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) in 2018. This was announced by His president Nana Akufo-Addo in 2017. The election of MMDCEs was one of the promises in the New Patriotic Party’s 2016 manifesto. The announcement comes after several calls by some Ghanaians for such positions to be put to vote rather than an appointment by the president. Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Hajia Alima Mahama, is on a nationwide sensitization tour reiterating the government’s determination to make possible the election of MMDCEs. She actually believes that the election of MMDCEs “will somewhat deal with the ‘winner-takes-all’ syndrome”. It has been argued by many that the election of MMDCEs will help ensure high performance and proper accountability of local assemblies. But local government expert, Professor Kwamena Ahwoi has postulated that such a move will make MMDCEs sabotage their governments. Some believe that electing MMDCEs on partisan basis will deepen social auditing and accountability. A Research Fellow at the Governance Unit of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Professor Ransford Gyampo, believes this promise might not be fulfilled because it was made without considering the realities on the ground. On Monday, April 30, 2018, a roadmap for the implementation process of the election of MMDCEs on partisan basis was rolled out. The roadmap is designed to be implemented on annual basis, running from 2017 to 2021. The activities are in themes of pre-referendum, referendum and post-referendum. All things being equal, there will be a referendum in September 2019, leading to the maiden MMDCEs’ election by June/July 2021, and their subsequent swearing-in by August 2021. (Sources: Ghana News Agency, Citi Newsroom, Ghanaweb & MyJoy Online) QUESTIONS!!! Ghana has been organising elections of Parliamentarians and Presidents consistently for at least 25 years now yet corruption, incompetence, and underdevelopment still thrive in this country, what is the probability that elected MMDCEs will be accountable and more productive to the masses? Is there a policy which determines how political election campaigns can be funded in this country, the largest budget for an election campaign and the declaration of sources of funding and assets of individuals running for elections, and, if any of these exist, are they being enforced to the letter? What is the assurance that elected MMDCEs will not turn out like MPs, who relegate their legislative function to the background and make paying school fees of, giving business capital to and building physical structures for their constituents their pre-occupation, just to score political points? Will political parties not sponsor their ‘puppies’ into MMDC seats in order to maintain the status-quo and to entrench their influence in strong-holds, and will this defeat the purpose of electing MMDCEs? The NPP government know that their tenure ends in2020, why have they drawn a plan that actually sees the light of day in 2021? Is this not a camouflage to make the NPP appear as fulfilling their campaign promise? Is the NPP not just trying to make sure that if they lose elections in 2020, the new Government would be blamed for the failure of the election of MMDCEs? #EfoIsAlwaysWatching #BeInspired #RenewYourMind Efo Korku Mawutor