Bosiako, stop copying blindly. Everything foreign is not always the best. What are you seeking by comparing what is currently happening in Hong Kong to Ghana.? Are you one of the CIA operatives? Give us a break.
Bosiako, stop copying blindly. Everything foreign is not always the best. What are you seeking by comparing what is currently happening in Hong Kong to Ghana.? Are you one of the CIA operatives? Give us a break.
Danso TDOT 9 years ago
Did you read what the guy wrote and understood the key message? Ghana will never develop until individual towns and cities begin to manage their own affairs instead of the current system where Accra decide for every town. H ... read full comment
Did you read what the guy wrote and understood the key message? Ghana will never develop until individual towns and cities begin to manage their own affairs instead of the current system where Accra decide for every town. How can the central government manage towns and districts waste collection system, water, sewerage and the likes?
Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako 9 years ago
Bernard, I'm not sure you read my article properly. Ghana has practised decentralisation since 1988 and for a long time, many people have raised this issue of the need to allow MMDCEs to be elected via popular elections. I ha ... read full comment
Bernard, I'm not sure you read my article properly. Ghana has practised decentralisation since 1988 and for a long time, many people have raised this issue of the need to allow MMDCEs to be elected via popular elections. I have attended several workshops and seminars where there has be unanimity on this demand. The reason the Constitution Review Commission recommended in their report popular election of MCEs is because majority of Ghanaians who submitted memoranda and/or participated in the review process want to elect their local chief executives. If democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people, then using a White Paper to reject the will of the people is not the way to go. The similarities between the protesters in Hong Kong and the people of Ghana is that their will and aspirations have been rejected by the Government of China and the Government of Ghana via a White Paper. And Ghanaians expressed this need for local development long before the people of Hong Kong even had the opportunity to vote for a chief executive. So we are not copying anybody, much less doing so blindly. And I can only imagine your CIA talk is for comic relief. When cholera has killed over 150 Ghanaians in Accra that has a mayor appointed by the President and who claims Accra is a Millenium City, we don't need the CIA to ask us to demand that we are given the opportunity to elect a more competent individual to manage Accra and not have the President impose on us another 5 persons of the same calibre for us to elect 1 out of final shortlist of 3. We don't need the CIA to teach us to think for ourselves. And you don't suggest that all those who sent memos to the CRC to demand popular election of MMDCEs were CIA operatives, do you?
DDKT 9 years ago
Well i hope the constitutional review committee will take into serious consideration all the aspiration of the people. we must not allow anyone be it the gov't or any political party to stand in the way. we must judiciously w ... read full comment
Well i hope the constitutional review committee will take into serious consideration all the aspiration of the people. we must not allow anyone be it the gov't or any political party to stand in the way. we must judiciously work towards the consolidation of our democratic credentials us the hope of Africa
Ugly Akufo Addo 9 years ago
Bt Hong Kong protesters are genuine protesters
Bt Hong Kong protesters are genuine protesters
mojingles 9 years ago
Boasiako, you have raised pertinent points, but the fact still remains that China is principally a communist and dictatorial state with no compunction for dissent....no wonder many experts say the Hong Kong demonstrators woul ... read full comment
Boasiako, you have raised pertinent points, but the fact still remains that China is principally a communist and dictatorial state with no compunction for dissent....no wonder many experts say the Hong Kong demonstrators would not go far with their protests.....my point is that Ghana may have problems with certain aspects of decentralization, though power has been devolved to the regions, cities and towns as evidenced by your own assertion.....
That should certainly not preclude people from registering their displeasure with the appointments of their MMDCES with loud and sustained protestations to their legislative representatives.....letter writing, opinion pieces like what you have just done, courting think tanks to take up their case or crowding the President's place of work to complain.....China has an entirely different political system and ours by comparison, is the better of the two, if you ask me....
Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako 9 years ago
Mojingles, thanks for your comment. It is true that Ghana's democracy allows for more freedom than that of China and that the Hong Kong protesters may not get far with their protests. Democracy (and hence decentralisation) th ... read full comment
Mojingles, thanks for your comment. It is true that Ghana's democracy allows for more freedom than that of China and that the Hong Kong protesters may not get far with their protests. Democracy (and hence decentralisation) though is not an end in itself. It is supposed to be a means to an end. If you have a system where rubbish in Accra isn't being collected on time and cholera is killing many people, and the mayor and the President who appointed him have to desilt gutters to show people how to keep their environment clean (even though there are AMA by-laws to compel people to do so), then we have to critically examine the system again. Let me give you an illustration: the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) is provided for by the Constitution of Ghana. The President of Ghana swears an oath to uphold the constitution, failing which he will submit himself for the consequences thereof. Many of the MMDAs require the common fund to support their internally-generated funds. Granted that most of them do a poor job at revenue collection, it is precisely because of that weakness that the Constitution has provided for a more secured source of revenue, the common fund. Yet, we have a situation where the central government is able to delay payment of the common fund for several quarters, sometimes for over 1 year. The question is, why is it that the MMDAs do not complain and even take the government to court to force the latter to pay up? My answer is simple: it is the chief executive who would have to initiate any such action. And who appointed the chief executive and to whom does the chief executive report? You guessed right, the President. Can the MMDCEs bite the finger that appointed them into office? No. Another illustration will help. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development on many occasions get the Common Fund Administrator to make certain deductions directly from source before remitting the rest to the local authorities. The deductions can be in respect of any of several procurement done or contracts awarded by central government on behalf of the MMDAs. A recent report suggested some deductions were made to pay for procurement for the street-naming project, for example. Whenever such deductions are made, we are told that the MMDAs gave their consent to the Ministry for the deductions to be made. I can say, however, that the MMDAs do not have the luxury to object to such deductions! It is a subtle command and they have to obey, because any MMDCE who breaks ranks will be removed by the President. So even if they would have used the money for sanitation or provision of water for their community as more of priority, they have to cede it for central government to use it as the latter determines. Think about it, if the money is spent in the local area, doesn't it enhance the local economy? If the contract is awarded to a party big-shot in Accra, does it benefit the local economy for the local people to benefit more from decentralisation? It is for all these reasons that many people (myself included) think that we need MMDCEs who are elected by the local people and who are accountable to the local people. Such MMDCEs can stand up to central government and pursue projects and programmes that are needed by the local people rather than what will give contracts to a ruling party big-shots at the national capital.
mojingles 9 years ago
Kwaku, I agree wholeheartedly with your illustrations....they are revelatory....if the MMDCEs are hamstrung as your examples abundantly laid bare, then, of course, development of their areas will depend on the whims of the Pr ... read full comment
Kwaku, I agree wholeheartedly with your illustrations....they are revelatory....if the MMDCEs are hamstrung as your examples abundantly laid bare, then, of course, development of their areas will depend on the whims of the President....Having said that, local elections are the antidote, but my fears are that the ruling party would field its own candidates who may be party ideologues...seeking each and every policy direction from the headquarters in Accra and primarily because the party has access to public funds, it would undoubtedly run roughshod over its opponents....the winning candidate thus is, by and large, obligated to the party's hierarchy who literally financed their campaigns...so there you go, he/she cannot in his right frame of mind so to speak, be a dissenting voice when it comes to revenue distribution....therein lies the problem, don't you think? Perhaps, individually wealthy candidates may be the answer, but then again, the poor will be shut out....relegated to the fringes, right?
Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako 9 years ago
If we have the scenario you described, it won't cut across all the MMDAs. So if one chief executive decides to manage his/her local area according to his/her party's directives and it affects development, the voters will puni ... read full comment
If we have the scenario you described, it won't cut across all the MMDAs. So if one chief executive decides to manage his/her local area according to his/her party's directives and it affects development, the voters will punish that individual and that party in future local elections, whereby any candidate associated with that party may lose. Then again, if other local areas are developing faster because they have elected competent, independent-minded chief executives, voters in other areas will take note. It will breed competition among MMDAs and force chief executives to perform. As things stand now, getting appointed, continuing in office and getting re-appointed all have nothing to do with competence and achievement in office, as long as you can keep the President happy. And what keeps the President happy does not necessarily reflect in the development of the local area, so long as you can guarantee votes in the next election by any means. And that includes awarding contracts to unqualified party aparachiks, who may do a piss-poor job. Otherwise, how can we explain a situation where a contractor constructs a road and in less than 6 months the whole road is full of potholes and yet nobody gets punished or blacklisted? As things stand now, there is no competition to achieve higher performance in developing their areas because they have nothing to lose by what happens in their local areas.
mensah abrampa 9 years ago
For several years we have failed to govern ourselves efficiently and have created more problems instead of solving existing problems. We can't re-invent the wheel yet people like Bernard are saying we can't copy from real lif ... read full comment
For several years we have failed to govern ourselves efficiently and have created more problems instead of solving existing problems. We can't re-invent the wheel yet people like Bernard are saying we can't copy from real life success stories from other parts of the world. That's stupidity at its peak.
Bosiako, stop copying blindly. Everything foreign is not always the best. What are you seeking by comparing what is currently happening in Hong Kong to Ghana.? Are you one of the CIA operatives? Give us a break.
Did you read what the guy wrote and understood the key message? Ghana will never develop until individual towns and cities begin to manage their own affairs instead of the current system where Accra decide for every town. H ...
read full comment
Bernard, I'm not sure you read my article properly. Ghana has practised decentralisation since 1988 and for a long time, many people have raised this issue of the need to allow MMDCEs to be elected via popular elections. I ha ...
read full comment
Well i hope the constitutional review committee will take into serious consideration all the aspiration of the people. we must not allow anyone be it the gov't or any political party to stand in the way. we must judiciously w ...
read full comment
Bt Hong Kong protesters are genuine protesters
Boasiako, you have raised pertinent points, but the fact still remains that China is principally a communist and dictatorial state with no compunction for dissent....no wonder many experts say the Hong Kong demonstrators woul ...
read full comment
Mojingles, thanks for your comment. It is true that Ghana's democracy allows for more freedom than that of China and that the Hong Kong protesters may not get far with their protests. Democracy (and hence decentralisation) th ...
read full comment
Kwaku, I agree wholeheartedly with your illustrations....they are revelatory....if the MMDCEs are hamstrung as your examples abundantly laid bare, then, of course, development of their areas will depend on the whims of the Pr ...
read full comment
If we have the scenario you described, it won't cut across all the MMDAs. So if one chief executive decides to manage his/her local area according to his/her party's directives and it affects development, the voters will puni ...
read full comment
For several years we have failed to govern ourselves efficiently and have created more problems instead of solving existing problems. We can't re-invent the wheel yet people like Bernard are saying we can't copy from real lif ...
read full comment