Former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, has said the delay by the President in appointing Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) is not hampering development at the local level but has made them powerless.
According to him, the President’s pronouncements that the assemblies are running smoothly cannot be true because most assemblies are not working and no development is seen in the assemblies.
“I don’t want to say that development is not a concern to the President but for what we have seen so far in assemblies, to say that assemblies are running could mean that the President is not properly briefed because for this long, it gives an impression that development at the local level is not a priority.
“You go to work because of development and if that is not happening at the local level, how then you say there is development?” he asked in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem Wednesday.
The government has been criticised for the lack of progress in appointing new MMDCEs eight months into a new administration.
These appointments are the sole preserve of the President, per Article 243 (1) of the 1992 Constitution.
In January, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo directed all MMDCEs to remain at post until new ones are appointed.
Since then, over 1,300 persons have applied for the MMDCE vacancies nationwide.
But Mr Oppong-Fosu believes the only challenge hindering the appointment of the MMDCEs is the political interest.
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