The Electoral Commission (EC) has now settled on December
17, this year for the referendum on the election of metropolitan, municipal and
district chief executives (MMDCEs).
Earlier, the EC had fixed December 10, 2019, for the
referendum.
The Director of Electoral Services at the EC, Dr Serebour
Quaicoe, announced the new date at the launch of a coalition formed by some
civil society organisations (CSOs) to push for the election of MMDCEs in Accra
yesterday.
He said the change in the date was occasioned by the delay
caused by the injunction application by a citizen, Mr Umar Ayuba, to the
Supreme Court to stop the limited registration of voters which formed part of
activities in the road map to the referendum.
Mr Ayuba filed the injunction against the EC's decision to
limit the limited voters registration exercise to its district offices on
grounds that the move would disenfranchise many people.
The Apex Court dismissed the injunction on June 12, this
year, but Dr Serebour said the legal action had affected their timelines, hence
the change in the date for the referendum.
"We had our timelines that we were working to but the
injunction made us lose some 14 days. We had to adjust our dates and finally
settled on December 17, this year, as the date for the referendum. If nothing
untoward occurs, we will do the referendum on that date because 2020 is a
packed year and we do not want to add the referendum to the activities for that
year," he said.
Dr Serebour called for the support of stakeholders such as
the media, the Judiciary, political parties and the general public to help the
EC deliver on its mandate.
CSO Coalition
The government has activated a process to amend two clauses
in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana to pave the way for the election of MMDCEs and
to allow for political participation in local level elections.
Two bills seeking amendments to Articles 243(1) and 55(3)
for election of MMDCEs and introduction of political party participation in the
local elections have been presented to Parliament to be passed.
The CSOs coalition is, therefore, meant to engage key
stakeholders including the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the
leadership of Parliament to speed up the amendment process.
The coalition is being spearheaded by the Ghana Centre for
Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Centre for Local Governance Advocacy
(CLGA) and the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG).
Dubbed the CSO Coalition on the National Referendum and
Election of MMDCEs, the coalition will also mobilise other stakeholders and the
public to support the referendum that will pave the way for the participation
of political parties in the election of MMDCEs slated for 2021.
Key personalities at the launch of the coalition were the
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama; her two
deputies, Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah and Mr Kwasi Agyei-Boateng, the Executive
Director of IDEG, Dr Emmanuel Akwettey, and the Executive Director of CLGA, Professor
Vladimir Antwi-Danso.
There were representatives from political parties, including
the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the
Convention People's Party (CPP), the Progressive People's Party (PPP) and the National
Democratic Party (NDP).
Action
Dr Akwettey explained that apart from engaging the President
and Parliament to expedite action on the amendment to those articles, the
coalition would canvass support from relevant stakeholders to facilitate the
process for a successful referendum.
He stressed that the overall objective of the coalition was
to ensure that a solid foundation was prepared for the election of MMDCEs in
2021.
To do that, he said, the coalition would strengthen
engagement with key stakeholders such as the EC and the political parties and
also use media campaign and advocacy to create awareness of the importance of
electing MMDCEs.
Support
In a speech, Hajia Mahama said the constitutional reforms
and referendum processes leading to the election of the MMDCEs had been
activated.
The minister stressed that electing MMDCEs was the best card
to play, since the current system where MMDCEs were appointed by the President
was inimical to local and inclusive governance.
"If we want to have the MMDCEs elected, the first thing
is to ensure that Article 243(1) is amended; so I will urge MPs to help pass
these bills when Parliament resumes in October," she said.
In their solidarity messages, the
representatives of the political parties gave an assurance that they would work
with other stakeholders for the successful election of the MMDCES.Source: Graphic.com.gh
