The largest opposition party National Democratic Congress (NDC) has stated that it will only consider a ‘YES’ vote to amend the constitution to allow political parties to participate in the district level elections if the government provides guidelines for the referendum.
The NDC has already kicked against the amendment of Article 55 (3) which will allow political parties to sponsor candidates for election to district assemblies or lower local government units.
Some Ghanaians are worried that the country will come to a standstill on how to proceed after the referendum in the absence of a clear blueprint on the participation of political parties at the local level.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, a former attorney general, Marietta Brew-Appiah Oppong and a member of the NDC’s analysis committee on the referendum, said that the party only wants the best for the country’s democracy and that government should be candid on all the consequential issues.
“We need a clear blueprint to discuss all the consequential matters. Have we thought through that for instance, a member of the opposition party is elected as DCE when there is a different government in power? We need to think through it. If we think there is nothing wrong with it so be it. But I think there is something fundamentally wrong with that.
“The point is that, have we thought through all these things and agreed that this is the way we want to go? We in the NDC do not think so, that is why we are voting NO at the referendum unless the Bill is withdrawn, we look at it, we have a national dialogue on it, and there is a blueprint that sets out all the consequential matters. It is not just about the parties but about what people are going to do on the referendum day”, she added.
Two bills are seeking amendments to Articles 243(1) and 55(3) for the election of MMDCEs and introduction of political party participation in the local elections.
By Emmanuel Amewugah, Daily Mail GH
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