The Convention People's Party (CPP) has urged President John Dramani Mahama to lead the charge in electing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

“The Convention People’s Party has always championed the need to get the ordinary Ghanaian part and parcel in deciding who becomes their MMDCEs since 2008,” the party said.

The National Communications Director of the CPP, Osei Kofi Acquah, who reiterated the position of the party in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the move would ensure the chosen MMDCE was acceptable to all, including various political players.

The CPP’s National Communications Director said if President Mahama was able to champion successfully that cause, it would cement the dream of his mentor and predecessor, Professor J.E.A. Mills, whose vision was to build strong and independent state institutions.

He said it would conclude how “A former President came back to the presidency to set things right by making the people decide who should lead them in their Districts and municipalities.”

Plans

Mr Acquah said the CPP was aware of far-advanced plans by both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party and government to appoint MMDCEs, adding that party loyalists have already applied and gone for interviews in the various regional capitals.

“The CPP is, therefore, proposing that instead of the President nominating one person to be accepted or rejected by the assembly members in the various districts, shortlisted members must be allowed to be voted into office by the people in the municipality or the district,” he suggested.

Mr Acquah said the CPP believed the elections of MMDCES would “kill the perception of corruption that characterises the confirmation of MMDCES when they are nominated by the President.

“The CPP believes that building strong institutions as the former President and the founder of modern-day Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, envisaged will require the inclusion of the ordinary Ghanaian in each step of the way,” he said.