Don’t reject President’s nominees publicly - Assembly members cautioned

It will be totally unacceptable for any assembly member or group of assembly members to express their disapproval of a President’s nominee publicly, a local governance expert, Dr Richard Fiadomor, has said.

Rather, he said any dissatisfied party could only reject a nominee through a voting process.

Dr Fiadomor has, therefore, cautioned assembly members not to abuse the power granted them by the Constitution and attempt to usurp the powers of the President to nominate a person for their consideration.

"It is essential for assembly members to understand that it does not lie within their power who the President nominates to be the metropolitan, municipal and district chief executive (MMDCE) in any assembly," he added.

Context

Dr Fiadomor, who is also the President of the Chamber for Local Governance, said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic following President John Dramani Mahama’s nomination of 152 persons for appointment as MMDCEs in 13 out of the 16 regions, with 109 positions yet to be filled out of the overall 261 assemblies across the country.

The three regions where the President is yet to appoint MMDCEs are Greater Accra, Eastern and Ashanti regions. Meanwhile, only one out of the 43 MMDCEs in the Ashanti Region has been named.  

The local governance expert said the President had fulfilled his constitutional mandate by nominating persons to occupy the position of MMDCEs, adding that “now, Presiding

Members must convene a General Assembly Meeting to allow assembly members to confirm or reject the President's nominees.”

Confirmation process

“The confirmation process requires a two-thirds majority vote by Assembly Members present and voting. If a nominee secures 50 per cent or more but less than 75 per cent, they will be afforded another opportunity to appear before the General Assembly within 10 days.

With respect to the acrimony that sometimes characterises the nomination and confirmation of the MMDCEs, the local governance expert said it had become the case because the

President was appointing people to a position, many of whom he did not even know or might not have even met before.

“As a result, the President heavily relies on the party to assist him in selecting the most ideal or best qualified persons.

Unfortunately, some of these party executives, instead of sticking to the competence of potential MMDCEs, are sometimes biased towards their favourite candidates, hence once the name is mentioned by the President, it sometimes leads to violence,” he said.