Review local govt system — Mrs Ofori-Kwafo

An anti-corruption campaigner has proposed a review of the local government system practised by the country since 1989.

The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo, maintains that if participation is at the heart of the country’s local government system, and the District Assembly Elections meant to select representatives for the local government system has recorded low levels of participation from the electorate, then it is time for a review.

She told the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra that there was therefore, the need for a dispassionate, apolitical national debate on the way forward for the country’s local governance system.

“Maybe, it is time all of us considered proposals for a partisan local government system,” she said.

The GACC, with support of donors such as the Open Society For West Africa Initiative (OSIWA), has been working in some selected districts in the Ashanti and the Brong Ahafo Regions to build up the interest of communities in local participation, and enable them to demand accountability in governance.

Disinterest in good governance

Mrs Ofori-Kwafo attributed the low turnout at the District Assembly Elections on September 1, 2015, to a general disinterest of the electorate in issues of good governance.

She added that a contributory factor could also be the dearth of education and sensitisation to the elections by the institutions responsible prior to the voting.

She expressed the view that institutions such as the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) ought to have been well funded to engage in an extensive education and sensitisation programme prior to the elections.

“Citizens feel they are not getting good governance from their institutional and political leaders at the national level and at the local levels too, the situation is the same,” Mrs Ofori-Kwafo said.

She said a failure of leadership in institutional and political spheres could be the third factor in the low turnout at the polls.

Leadership is key

Apart from proposing a national dispassionate discussion for a review of the local governance system, Mrs Ofori-Kwafo also proposed that leaders in all spheres of the country’s political and social endeavours had to be  up and about the business of getting citizens interested in good governance.

For her, leadership in spearheading effort for collective participation in local governance was also key in arresting waning interests in good governance.