Election of DCEs will breed incompetence - Ahwoi

Wa, Jan. 7, GNA - Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, a Principal Lecturer at the Gh= ana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), has said that th= e election of Chief Executives to the District Assemblies would breed incompetence and jeopardise the Decentralisation and Local Government System.

He noted that competence could not be assured if Chief Executives were elected to the Assemblies because the people might elect somebody who was popular but not competent.

He also argued that the practice would create an unpleasant situation where larger ethnic groups would always like to use their numerical strengt= h to dominate the elections and elect their persons as Chief Executives to th= e Assemblies at all times. That, he explained, would create confusion and marginalisation of smaller ethnic groups, 93which I foresee could be detrimental to the decentralisation process, as well as undermine the peace and unity of the country". Mr. Ahwoi was answering a question posed as to why Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives were not elected, during a Public Lecture on 93Decentralisation and Local Government" organised in Wa on Thursday. The GIMPA Lecturer, who was the main lecturer at the forum, however, proposed that the President be allowed to nominate the Chief Executives and let the Public Service Commission to subject them to thorough interviews an= d find out about their levels of competence before they could be confirmed by District Assembly Members.

Mr. Ahwoi challenged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives to know their job properly or else they stood to be disrespected by heads of departments when their departments were restored to the assemblies under the Decentralisation Programme. "Those of you who do not know, must start to learn hard and those who know must learn to know more", he advised. Mr. Ahwoi however admitted that it would be democratically ideal to elect Chief Executives to the Assemblies but that it had merits and demerits.

Chiefs, District Chief Executives, District Coordinating Directors, Finance and Planning Officers as well as Heads of Departments and Security Personnel attended the lecture. They were taken through the Local Government law L.I. 1961, Local Government Act 1993 and Act 462, among others.