Professor Mike Oquaye, Speaker of Parliament has said, the proliferation of districts poses a danger to local government and decentralisation, as they tend to strengthen the central government’s stronghold over the districts.
Speaker described the situation as a form of balkanisation (the division or fragmentation of a state or region into smaller, often ethnically similar places); adding that “and we need to talk about anti-balkanisation to achieve political aims as we also come to re-examine how to strengthen local governmentâ€.
He said this would be best done constitutionally else every discretion used would lead to the creation of loopholes.
“All these are areas that I believe would help us to appreciate the pro-parameters within which we would need to have district governance re-examined in our country. Not only by way of whether you should bring political parties or not? As for the political parties, it is just natural training grounds for future politicians from districts to regional and national levels,†he said.
“Nevertheless all other allied matters that would go to strengthen the system as a real countervailing authority is really the area I am particularly much interested in. Because merely bringing political parties to district assemblies would not do anything for decentralisation.â€
Speaker of Parliament, Prof Oquaye said this on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, at a national Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) forum, organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) on the theme: “CSOs’ Role in Transformational Local Governance Reform in Ghanaâ€.
Records have it that in Ghana, the number of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) increased from 65 in 1992 to 110 in 2004, and further to 216 in 2016; whilst the number of constituencies grew from 200 in 1992 to 230 in 2004 and went up to 275 in 2016.
And 2018, the government again added 38 new MMDAs; thus scaling the number up to 254.
The forum, was therefore, organised to enable participants to share their views on how to educate the public and mobilise their participation in and support for a successful implementation of the recent decision by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to amend Article 55 (3) of the 1992 constitution to allow for political parties participation in district assemblies elections.
Speaker of Parliament said political analysts have lost considerable sight of the fact that decentralisation is essentially a power-sharing mechanism.
He described it as the establishment of countervailing authority and a liberative sense of local autonomy and self-governance.
“The English say that all roads cannot lead to Whitehall or to 10 Downing Street. They also say that from the cradle to the grave, the local council is the essence of life,†the Speaker said.
He said the local council takes care of health, education, sanitation, police and all the real basics of life.
“In the USA, not only do they strengthen mayorial authority, but also gives wide autonomy to the states that form the union, such that to the Dallas resident, the state government is the essence of life from birth to death,†he said.
Prof Oquaye said: “The tragedy of the Ghanaian situation is the manipulation of the decentralisation process, including the balkanisation of assemblies for political gain resulting in the political fragmentation of the districtsâ€.
“We have nothing but a divide-and-rule semblance of decentralisation. In order to share power, we have re-delineate the assemblies into viable entities and give them real autonomy,†he added.
In order to strengthen the assemblies as a real countervailing authority, Prof Oquaye recommended that district assemblies should elect all their members and that the one-third nomination by the executive is scrapped.
He suggested extending the political party system to the district assemblies.
Furthermore, Speaker of Parliament recommended that certain percentage of seats at the district assemblies be set aside for women alone to contest to promote affirmative action at the local level.