District Election Day should be declared holiday - Prof. Ahwoi

A local government expert, Professor Kwamina Ahwoi has recommended to President Mahama to write an urgent memorandum to declare March 3, 2015, set for the District Level Elections (DLE) a public holiday to encourage voters’ participation.

According to Prof. Ahwoi, the local government has come a long way since 1988 but participation is still low. He said, citizens have still not shown keen interest in the DLE in both participation and in voting and that there was the need to develop strategic means, such as using the media to encourage people to partake in the elections.

He observed that, Ghana as a country practiced a highly centralized government in the post independence era, adding that the Convention People’s Party (CPP) did not believe in decentralization.

Prof. Ahwoi said this when he addressed a day’s media sensitization workshop on District Level Elections organized by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) to educate the media on the DLE and bring them on board to encourage citizens to partake in the elections.

The workshop, which was an initiative of Mr. Julius Debrah led Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), was under the theme: “Democratization, Decentralization and Development. The workshop forms part of the various strategies put together by the MLGRD, to boost voter turnout, encourage participation and urge electorates to make the right choice based on substance and not popularity.

Prof Ahwoi said there have been issues of participation both with the contestants and electorates because people do not see the need to involve themselves since there is no fix remuneration or motivation to attract people, as voters also think it’s not beneficial. He said the reason for decentralization was to give voice to the local people so that they could manage their own affairs unfortunately participation trend in the DLE has not been encouraging.

Prof Ahwoi told the participants that DLE is the most cost intensive election compare to the presidential and parliamentary elections yet turnout becomes very low because people do not have interest in it.

He called for the decentralisation of the entire district level elections and advised that the elections should be staggered so that, there wouldn’t be challenges in logistics.

To him the elections should be conducted by the district officers of the Electoral Commission (EC), instead of EC head office in Accra. This, according to him, would legitimize the election of the unit committee members of a unit in another district.

Prof Ahwoi argued that when the elections become decentralised, candidates who will have post-election issues and intend to pursue them could then appeal to the regional level and then national level before finally proceeding to court. He, therefore, advised the media to promote a worthy course by campaigning to encourage citizens to come out and vote and vote for the right people and not just based on popularity.

The Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at the Institute of Local Government Studies, Dr. Eric Oduro Osae, on his part said democratic governance had become part of the system and in order for it to be successful, there is the need implement decentralization reforms. He also emphasized on the importance of citizens’ participation in the governance processes for attaining development and emphasized on the need for the country to develop strategies that will see to the sustainability of citizen’s interest and participation in the District Assembly Elections.

Dr. Osae noted that, since the introduction of the DLE in 1988, voter turnouts, participation and interest in the national exercise have not been impressive with few regions recording 50 percent mostly from the three northern regions.

He said there are serious issues because the percentage keeps fluctuating. According to him 41.6% of the population voted in 1998 but the figure declined 33.1% in 2002.

Dr. Osae attributed the lackadaisical attitude towards DLE to lack of effective education, publicity, poor performances of Assembly members among others.

He also said the absence of accurate information and feedback to citizens by the media on the nature and operations of the district assembly system had also been identified as part of the challenges.

Dr. Osae, therefore, urged the media to deploy reporters round on the day of the election and set up ‘election headquarters’ to give a situational account of the elections just like it’s done during the parliamentary and presidential elections.

A Principal Electoral Officer in charge of logistics, Nana Kweku Duodu, also hammered on the various challenges facing the DLE as lack of effective education, publicity, poor performances of work of some assembly members and unit committee members, lack of resources for developmental projects, and remuneration challenges.

He also advised that, once a person associated with a political party the person should not contest since the DLE was non-partisan. The outgoing minister for Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Julius Debrah, in his closing remarks appealed to the members of the media to help make this upcoming DLE a successful one.