It is becoming increasingly disappointing to hear President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his ministers shifting and postponing major policy promises they made during the 2016 campaign, the Policy Advisor for Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has said.
According to Kofi Asamoah Siaw, the trust Ghanaians had in the president hence giving him overwhelming endorsement in the 2016 elections is waning fast, a situation he says should alert the president to know that “nobody can take us for ride”.
Mr Asamoah Siaw was commenting on a statement by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, that election of municipal, metropolitan and district chief executives (MMDCEs) will come off in 2021.
The Minister at a round-table discussion organized by the Centre for Local Governance Advocacy (CLGA) and the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee (IMCC) gave a tentative timetable of the activities of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) towards the election of MMDCEs.
But the Policy Advisor for PPP has rejected the roadmap as presented by the minister, saying the document has not given any assurance and clear direction.
He pointed out that PPP will be disappointed in the President if he does not ensure that election of MMDCEs happens as he promised.
“We reject this roadmap by the minster because it doesn’t give any assurance. There are many of such promises by this present government [that] they keep shifting the date for commencement, and one of them is the election of the MMDCEs. We will be disappointed if the elections do not happen in 2018,” he explained on Onua FM’s news and current affairs programme Ghana Dadwen on Wednesday.
“Is it a deception? What has necessitated this change? We will not agree to these postponements and if the President fulfills this election of MMDCEs promise, we will reignite our trust in him.”
President Akufo-Addo, while on a Thank You tour in the Central Region after the 2016 elections, made a strong case for the election of MMDCEs in 2018.
Addressing the chiefs of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, the president said the time has come for the election of MMDCEs and that it cannot be delayed since it is the only way to bring accountability to local government.
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