Bolga wants DCEs to be elected by popular vote

Bolgatanga, April 21, GNA- Participants at a Constitutional Review forum held in Bolgatanga on Tuesday called for the popular election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.

They pointed out that people at the grassroots level should be allowed to elect their DCEs as most of the time, people appointed as DCEs were people not abreast of common issues in the community which they are supposed to govern.

They advocated that present and past Assembly members should be encouraged to contest for the position of DCE since majority of them had worked with the Assembly and had acquired the needed skills and experience to serve the people as DCEs.

Participants were also of the view that the number of Ministerial appointments by the President was too high and should be pruned down to reduce the burden on state resources.

Mr. Alexis Ayamdor, a development worker with Ibis West Africa, an NGO, indicated that there were many Chief Directors and other technocrats in the Ministries who were more experienced to man the ministries without political supervision.

The participants called for a blue print for all Governments to follow as far as the policies and programmes of the country's educational system are concerned since the sector was being toyed with by Governments.

The participants further indicated that the Attorney General's Department and the Ministry of Justice should be decoupled to ensure fair and proper administration of Justice.

They expressed concern about the low remuneration of Assembly members and asked that like Members of Parliament who enjoy better conditions of service including ex-gratia award, Assembly members should also be paid from the consolidated Fund, adding that this would attract more competent and experienced persons to the Assemblies for effective decentralization and development.

The participants were of the view that the concept of the decentralization system being practiced at the Municipal and District Assembly level was inefficient and asked that under the review of the constitution, stringent mechanisms should be put in place to make it more effective.

The four year term of office of the President under the 1992 constitution, the participants noted, should be maintained and not be extended.

Participants asked that women should be given equal opportunities like their male counterparts in governmental positions as they formed more than 50 per cent of the country's population.

Opinion was sharply divided on the right of chiefs to be actively involved in politics.

Mr. Gabriel Scout Pwamang, a member of the Commission entreated the public to take the exercise seriously by making concrete submissions to enable the Commission produce credible report for the advancement of constitutionalism in Ghana.

He said Ghana has over the years has been adjudged the touch bearer of good governance and therefore there was the need to improve upon it.

He entreated people who could not submit their views at the forum to do so through the Regional Coordinating Councils, Municipal and District Assemblies and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).

The team of the Constitutional Review Commission which is in the Upper East Region would cover all the nine Districts in the Region and is expected to educate the people on the constitution, inform the public about issues regarding the constitution and to elicit their views and opinions on the operation of the constitution.