The Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, has welcomed the Constitutional Review Commission’s (CRC) proposal for the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), but says the process should not include the President choosing persons to be elected.
According to the MP, he wished the Executive branch of government should have no role in determining who becomes an MMDCE.
“I wish they had recommended that it should be open election. The Executive branch of government should not have a hand in it,” the MP said in an interview on TV3’s Hot Issues on Sunday, August 9, 2026.
He argued that the same principle used in electing Members of Parliament and the President should apply to the selection of MMDCEs, allowing citizens to directly determine who leads their respective metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
“I wish we were going all out to say that just like we vote for MPs and we vote for the President, let it be the same. Let the people make their choice and let the people vote for their choice,” he stated.
Despite his reservations, the Ablekuma South MP acknowledged that the CRC’s proposal represents progress compared to the existing arrangement where the President appoints MMDCEs.
“However, what we have coming is better than what we have had in the past, where government is all out choosing one person to come and represent them. So, there are better days ahead,” he added.
The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has announced that the government has accepted a proposal that all District Chief Executives (DCEs) should be elected.
The announcement was made on Thursday, July 30, as Dr Ayine presented the government’s White Paper on the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Committee, outlining a series of reforms aimed at strengthening democratic governance, enhancing decentralisation and increasing citizen participation in local government administration.
“On the election of District Chief Executives, the Government has gone further than the Committee. The Committee recommended a phased approach, under which the right to elect a DCE would be tied to a district’s fiscal capacity, so that some districts would vote and others would not.
“The Government takes the position that all District Chief Executives should be elected. Creating a distinction between voting and non-voting districts carries significant political costs and may be perceived as discriminatory against citizens,” Ayine said.
