President proposes referendum for election of MMDCEs

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday proposed that a referendum for the election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) should take place at the same time with the district assembly elections next year.

Delivering the State of the Nation Address to Parliament in Accra, the President said the process for the Amendment of the Constitution, which led to the election of chief executives, should be done in a way that would ensure the judicial use of Ghana’s resources.

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), in its 2016 Election Manifesto, committed itself to the election of MMDCEs as a step to deepening the country’s democracy and ensuring better accountability.

The President has continuously stressed that the districts were the target for all governments’ policy initiatives at aggressively industrialising the economy through value addition, modernising agriculture, improving production and efficiency and achieving food security.

And with the election of MMDCE’s, local economies are expected to be transformed as the people could hold elected officials accountable for the development of their districts, he said.

President Akufo-Addo said if the move was successful, “the outcome of the Referendum will mean that the current set of MMDCEs will be the last batch of chief executives to be appointed under the current system.”

Source: GNA