A survey report by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has found that a vast majority of Ghanaians would prefer non-partisan local government elections.
The survey, which interviewed a nationally representative number of 2,400 persons, found that some 71% of respondents would prefer non-partisan elections at the local level.
Conversely, some 20% of the respondents said they would prefer that these elections take on a partisan nature.
Support among citizens for the non-partisan election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) has increased from 59% to 71% since 2017.
On the other hand, support for the partisan election of MMDCEs has declined by exactly 50% since 2017. It is down from 40% to 20%.
About 70% of rural respondents would rather have non-partisan elections, compared to 20% who were for.
A similar number (73%) of urban respondents opted for non-partisan elections, while 20% wanted political parties to be involved in the process.
Among women, 69% would rather have non-partisan elections, while 19% said they would prefer having partisan elections.
For men, 73% said no to partisan elections while 21% were for it.
Support for non-partisan elections among NDC supporters was 72%, while 20% were for it.
A similar number (70%) said they preferred non-partisan elections.
Among supporters of the smaller parties, 73% were in favour of non-partisan elections, while 9% wanted partisan elections.
In all, some 76% respondents would prefer the MMDCEs to be elected.
The report further notes that overall support for the election of MMDCES has increased 16 % (up from 60%) since 2008, when the CDD first conducted an Afrobarometer survey on the election MMDCEs.
On the other hand, support for the presidential appointment of MMDCEs has declined by 7% from 27% in 2008.
At the rural-urban level, support for the election of local government representatives was very high, with results at 77% and 74% respectively.
Support for election of MMDCEs was also very high among members of the various political parties.
Some 78% of respondents who claimed to support the opposition National Democratic Congress were in favour of the election of MMDCES.
Among supporters of the ruling New Patriotic Party, support for the election of MMDCEs is about 75%.
Among supporters of the smaller parties, this number is hovering around 85%.
Among both genders, 75% of females support the election of MMDCEs, while 76% of males support the election of MMDCEs.
Supporters of the non-partisan election of MMDCEs gave varied reasons for their reason.
Among them are the belief that it would promote peace inclusivity and prevent the winner-takes-all syndrome.
They also thought it would promote responsiveness and development.
Some also held the view that it would get more competent persons elected.
They also held the view that it would promote transparency and accountability.
Supporters of the partisan electoral system, on the other hand, held the view that more competent people need to be elected.
They also thought that the current format is already “tainted by partisan influences and must be opened up to promote public interest in local elections”.
They also believe it will promote responsiveness and development as well as transparency and accountability from political parties.
Meanwhile, a gender advocate and a cross section of women in the Western Region have expressed worry about the limited number of women participations in government, especially at the local level.
This, they lamented, is against the backdrop that women’s involvement in local government ensure that their perspectives are effectively incorporated into policy decisions.
Out of the 14 nominated MMDCEs in the Western Region, only two are females.
They are Madam Louisa Iris Arde, Municipal Chief Executive for Jomoro, and Madam Doris Elizabeth Amoah, Nzema East Municipality.
Speaking in an interview with the GNA, Madam Cecelia Quainoo, a gender advocate, stressed that the participation of women in local government was critical in the decision-making processes of the district assembly.
She said women participation in local government would enhance the legitimacy of the government, ensure fair representation of society in elected offices and impact the policy agenda by strengthening the ability of women-related issues in the society.
Madam Quainoo indicated that women’s involvement in the decision-making processes of governance was critical for sustainable development not because they constitute the majority of the population, but they are discriminated against and underrepresented in the socio-economic and political development activities.
“For instance, the government of Ghana should adopt a quota system reserving a certain percentage of seats in the MMDAs for women to improve women’s participation in local government in the country,” she said
“In addition, non-governmental organisations and financial institutions should be enthused to economically empower women through financial support,” she added.
According to Madam Quainoo, if women had financial support, they could venture into economic activities that would earn them much more financial independence to sponsor their political activities.
She, therefore, called on NGOs and other charitable organisations as well as individual philanthropists to work in partnership to set up educational funds to help provide financial assistance to support girl-child education.
This, she indicated, would go a long way to encourage girls to stay in schools at all levels of the educational ladder to acquire knowledge and skills to improve upon their confidence level for future political positions.
She stated that non-formal education programmes must be well resourced to cater for women in the non-formal education system to be able to read, write and understand issues relating to governance and politics to allure to improving the level of women’s political participation and representation in the country.
Madam Quainoo further encouraged religious and opinion leaders to spearhead crusades to promote the cause of women representations in politics in their respective communities and organise campaigns to educate community members about the importance of women in both national and local politics.
GNA