The Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) has enjoined Parliament to amend the constitution to make District Assembly elections partisan.
"There must be a change of the Constitution to a partisan one because District Chief Executives (DCEs) have to win the political will of the society in which they are," says Dan Lartey, leader of the party.
As far as he is concerned, the present situation where DCEs are not elected but appointed has exacerbated their incompetence. "District Assembly election should be politicised, the DCEs must be elected on partisan basis because they are representing the whole of their respective districts and must, therefore, have the support of the people.
"You do not just impose District Chief Executive on people," he stressed. He remarked that District Assemblies were off-shoots of the main government at the grassroots and thus, saw no logic in having a central government elected on partisan lines while its local government representatives are non-partisan.
"The DCEs are not seeking the real interest of the people because of their non-partisan nature. Should they be elected on political lines, they will be forced to seek the interest of the people because by then, they will know the people will reject them at the next pools".
He said once the elections become politicised, prospective political parties would then be in a legally acceptable position to fund their candidates during their campaigns.
Reacting to the recent assertion made by the leader of the People's National Convention (PNC), Dr Edward Mahama himself did not understand the meaning and definition of Nkrumaism or he would not have made those remarks.
"He himself (Dr Mahama) must know what it means to be an Nkrumaist before he assesses and tags other parties as non-Nkrumaists. "If he understood the meaning of Nkrumaism, he would not have said what he did," emphasised Lartey.
It is recalled that Dr Mahama, about a month ago branded the GCPP as a non-Nkrumaist party citing the party's non-representation in Parliament as his reason. Dr Mahama was also quoted as having said that there were only two Nkrumaist parties in the country, the PNC and the CPP, thus ignoring the GCPP's existence.
According to Lartey, the CPP is a party founded by the last Dr Kwame Nkrumah but that did not mean all Nkrumaists must belong to the same CPP. He said the concept of Nkrumaism relied on one's loyalty to the ideas and principles of Dr Nkrumah, which to him has always been the fundamental ideology of the GCPP.
If Dr Mahama says the GCPP is not an Nkrumaist party because it has top representation in Parliament, then his argument is not straight," remarked Lartey.
