MAKE ASSEMBLY POLLS SUCCESSFUL (OCT 7, 2010)

AT long last the Electoral Commission (EC) has fixed December 28 as the date for the election of assembly members at the district level.
Though belated, the delay has presented an opportunity for all stakeholders to reflect on the need to re-examine elections at the local level and also reform the decentralisation process.
Local level representation and Ghana’s decentralisation process have been hailed as two of the best concepts and they have attracted other African countries to come and study them.
Interesting, however, is the issue of the vacuum to be created as a result of the delay in the holding of the district assembly elections, as current assembly members’ term of office ends this month.
This, obviously, will pose a challenge for the assemblies all over the country. This is because Article 241 Clause 3 of the 1992 Constitution stipulates: “Subject to this Constitution, the district assemblies shall be the highest political authority at the district level and shall have deliberative, legislative and executive powers.”
Thus the work of the assemblies, as per the performance of their legislative and deliberative functions, will be hampered.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks that while this development will pose some administrative challenges for the assemblies, it provides this country an opportunity to re-examine the executive powers of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs), especially within the context of the election of MMDCEs.
It is the hope of the DAILY GRAPHIC that this challenge does not provide opportunities for MMDCEs to award contracts during the brief period of the absence of assembly members.
Again, the DAILY GRAPHIC revisits the pledges made by the government to make the position of MMDCEs elective. We believe the time is ripe, as the Constitutional Review Committee undertakes the exercise of collating views in the hope of amending the Constitution.
If the country aims at entrenching its democracy, especially at the district and unit levels, one sure way of achieving that feat is to give the citizenry the opportunity to have a say in who becomes their representative.
The DAILY GRAPHIC again calls for a conscious effort to attract more women to contest this year’s assembly elections.
We also hasten to call on the security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities. Although the assembly elections are meant to be non-partisan, word on the ground is contrary to that view.
The DAILY GRAPHIC takes the opportunity to wish all aspirants well in the coming elections. We pray that their electioneering would be devoid of pettiness.
We also remind them that the call to duty to serve the nation is a noble one for which anyone granted that rare opportunity must be thankful and dedicate himself or herself to the work at hand.
Much too often, people go into public office only to amass wealth. We urge the electorate to shun such people whose sole aim of standing for elections is to fill their pockets, at the expense of national service.