President backtracks on MMDCEs elections in 2018 promise?

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo appears to be reconsidering his promise to conduct elections for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) by 2018.

Deep-throat sources within government and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development revealed that the election has been shifted to December 7 2020 and will be conducted alongside the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Mynewsgh.com sources reveal that if the election is conducted in 2018 and does not go well for the ruling party, it could be a recipe for disaster in the main election and as a result, government is considering the latest proposal.

“If the 2018 election of the MMDCEs is allowed, it would be like the midterm elections in the USA and you can imagine if a ruling party does not fare well its repercussions on the main elections will be serious”, it revealed.

The president prior to his swearing in on January 7, 2017 promised the election of MMDCEs indicating that he is confident the election will strengthen the local government system and offer Ghanaians the opportunity to choose who they prefer to represent their interest as Chief Executive in the assembly.

Nana Akufo-Addo it would be recalled during a courtesy call on the chiefs of the Central region as part of his thank you tour after winning the 2016 elections promised to implement it.

The issue of whether MMDCEs should be elected or not took a centre stage in the country’s politics for some time with some stakeholders and partners sharing opposing views on the issue. It was one of the topical issues in the build up to the 2016 general elections with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) being the main parties that championed it.