The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on Ghanaians, especially opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other parties to support the amendment of Article 55(3) to allow for multi-party contest for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and assembly member positions.
The NPP had promised to make the exercise contestable in the lead up to the 2020 elections, however, a planned referendum in 2019 to make it a reality was aborted after the opposition NDC objected it.
The NDC national leadership refused to play ball, whilst its Parliamentary Caucus had been working closely with the NPP to amend articles 243 and 55(3).
At a news conference in Accra on Friday, the director of communications for the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa said, the governing party is clear about elections on a multi-party platform.
“Under ‘Governance’ on Page 164 of the 2020 NPP Manifesto, we have said we will,” he stated.
According to him, this intent by the NPP government, if supported, will help break the syndrome of winner takes all once and for all and thereby stabilise the practice of liberal multi-choice democracy in Ghana.
He explained that, apart from the onerous burden on the President to find and appoint MMDCEs, there is also the question of tensions at operational level as voters prefer to pass their development claims and local needs through MPs, who then struggle to influence development choices and facilitate individual needs through non-partisan assemblies.
“The NPP will continue to engage in order to deliver the best possible outcomes for governance in order to ensure a credible place for Ghana in the comity of nations as we fight for prosperity, security and stability,” he noted.
