Electing MMDCEs Could Trigger Conflict With Presidential Authority – Mahama Ayariga Warns

Minister-designate for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, has raised fundamental constitutional concerns about proposals to elect Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Thursday, August 27, in response to a question from the Minority Leader and Ranking Member on the architecture of local governance, Hon. Ayariga said Ghana must balance the desire to maintain a unitary state with the need to ensure local participation and ownership of governance.

"Thank you very much minority leader and ranking member for the question. This question raises very fundamental constitutional jurisprudential issues," he said.

"Structurally what we have now is a situation where one we want to maintain a unitary state. We want to maintain a unitary state and at the same time we want to ensure that governance is owned at the local level. There's local participation, there's trust and because of that the locals are contributing towards their own governance and development. So these are the core objectives," he explained.

According to him, a full election of MMDCEs could create dual executive powers at the local and national levels.

"Now for those who say let's have free range elections at the local level this is what will happen. We'll be electing two people who will have executive powers. When you elect a DCE of a given geographical space you would have executive powers and then you now elect assembly members who will have legislative powers. Then at the national level you elect a president who has executive powers and then you elect members of parliament who have legislative powers," he said.

He said the key architectural concern is potential conflict of authority.