DCES MUST NOT BE DIRECTLY ELECTED...They are the direct reps of President (PAGE 13)

A FORMER assembly member for Lambussie in the Upper West Region, Mr D.M. Deribaa, has expressed the view that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) should not be directly elected.
In his view, Ghana is a sovereign and unitary republic, and that the chief executive is the direct representative of the elected President in the district and accountable to the people.
According to him, the unitary status of Ghana is historic and that is buttressed by Article 4 of the 1992 Constitution, and is of the strong belief that the framers of the Constitution had the unitary status of Ghanaians in mind before providing that MMDCEs should be accountable to the President who is directly elected by the good people of Ghana.
“The 1992 Constitution provides for the type of local government administration which shall as far as practicable, be decentralised with the district assemblies as the highest political authorities in their district,” Mr Deribaa told the Daily Graphic.
He stated that there was a dichotomy of power between the elected assembly members and the Members of Parliament in the district on one hand, and the President’s representative in the district on the other.
Mr Deribaa stated that the deliberative and legislative powers of the assembly were in the hands of assembly members while the chief executive was responsible for administration and execution of government policies and programmes.
“It is, therefore, politically inexpedient and superfluous to directly elect the chief executive some of whom may be opposed to the political ideology of the President.
That trend, he said, could lead to confusion and chaos in respect of resource allocation and general administration in the country,” he added.
Mr Deribaa argued that Ghana was still young in her democratic governance and “there is no gainsaying the fact that, party politics has often been the bone of our district assembly elections”.
He recommended that in future, the appointment of the MMDCEs should be streamlined by an amendment to Article 241 (3) and Act 462, and the removal of the two-thirds majority approval needed to confirm the chief executives.
“The President should have the prerogative under the Constitution to nominate a candidate using as basis, experience, competence and educational background as this will remove hatred, bickering, rancour and vilification that characterise the nomination and confirmation of chief executives,” he added.