BLACKMAIL WON'T HELP (APRIL 9, 2009)

THE agitation that greeted the announcement of the President’s nominees for the positions of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives in certain parts of the country was quite worrying.
Our Constitution guarantees the right of assembly by any group of people to express solidarity with a cause or condemn it.
For this reason, it will be unfair to condemn all those who, in a peaceful manner, registered their disapproval with some of the nominees of the President.
Nonetheless, the DAILY GRAPHIC is appalled by the behaviour of those who vandalised properties as a sign of their disapproval.
We call on all aggrieved persons to exercise restraint in raising their concerns over the President’s nominees because the use of unorthodox means to achieve results can only be counter-productive.
After 20 years of the decentralisation process, the grass-root structures should have been familiar with the basic tenets of the process in order to offer the necessary support to sustain local governance.
The selection processes adopted by the President Mills administration this year were very embracing, to such an extent that a committee was set up to tour the country to vet those who applied for the positions.
Unfortunately, certain members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the constituency levels have protested vehemently against some of the nominees because, according to them, they had not been in the trenches with some of them during the hectic electioneering process last year.
The DAILY GRAPHIC does not have the full background of the protests by some of the party activists but we can appreciate their concerns, in view of the fact that some of them had hoped that at least many of the foot soldiers would be given the opportunity to be their leaders at the grass roots.
However, the solution does not lie in violent action to disturb the peace of their districts and in the end derail the stability of the country.
There are laid-down regulations to seek redress at the local and national levels and the prudent path for those who are against certain nominees to follow should be the due process. We reject the use of force or violence to blackmail the authorities to rescind their decision.
After all, the aggrieved persons or factions have one more chance to express their grievances if the government refuses to withdraw those nominees.
They can mobilise assembly members to reject the President’s nominees at the confirmation stage in the various assemblies if they can convince the assembly members that the nominees are unknown in their districts or do not qualify to be confirmed.
The DAILY GRAPHIC, therefore, commends the Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, for his efforts at calming the nerves of the aggrieved factions by his assurance that the concerns raised would be examined.
Although the government consulted major stakeholders in the decentralisation process during the vetting of the nominees, it must be explained to the people that the Constitution confers the sole prerogative of appointing MMDCEs on the President.
The DAILY GRAPHIC adds it voice to the appeal from various quarters to the aggrieved persons to reject the option of violence as a means of forcing the President to do their bidding.
Our democracy, especially at the local level, can endure when all stakeholders play by the rules, even if they are convinced of their standpoints.