The KMA 'fight' is unnecessary
The country had experimented with elections at the local levels in the past but the public response had been very poor. One such election had been held in 1981 during the Limann administration but turnout had been poor.
In 1988, then PNDC Chairman J.J. Rawlings decided to have governance on the doorstep of the people during the PNDC administration.
The district assembly concept was factored into the country’s decentralisation programme under the Fourth Republican Constitution.
Advertisement
Every district assembly consists of elected members, the Member of Parliament for the area (though without the right to vote), the district chief executive (DCE) and other members not being more than 30 per cent of all the members of the assembly.
For many district level elections in the past, the political parties had sponsored candidates, even though party leaders would swear heaven and earth that it did not happen.
The widespread agitation over the confirmation of DCEs now must provide the opportunity to take another look at the decentralisation concept with the view to correcting the bottlenecks.
The Daily Graphic thinks that if the kingpins in the implementation of the decentralisation concept bury their political egos and dedicate themselves to the spirit and letter of their mandate in the Constitution, there will be no conflict between DCEs and MPs, as well as PMs and DCEs.
What happened in Kumasi last Friday, which compelled the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Akwasi Oppon-Fosu, to ban the PM of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) from attending any function of the ministry, was very unfortunate.
There must certainly be bad blood between the KMA boss, Mr Kojo Bonsu, and Nana Kofi Senya, otherwise why would Nana Senya refuse to sign a document that would enhance the job for which he and others had been elected by the assembly members.
Conflicts in the assemblies are not good enough, as they defeat the purpose for the decentralisation concept.
The Daily Graphic also believes that the conflicts between DCEs and MPs will cease if the MPs legislate themselves out of the assemblies, concentrate solely on law making and leave the central government and the district assemblies to work as agents of development.
In the meantime, we call on the government to resolve the misunderstanding between the KMA boss and the PM, as well as the alleged show of disrespect towards the minister.
However, we wonder whether the Minister of Local Government is clothed with enough powers to ban anybody from attending a public function.
The Daily Graphic thinks the two gentlemen can resolve their differences without necessarily making it a constitutional issue.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
