Ignorance of local govt system reason for low interest in assembly elections – NCCE boss

The Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Kathleen Addy, says most Ghanaians are not interested in District Level Elections (DLEs) because they are ignorant of the local government system.

Over the years, low voter turnouts have been recorded across the country during DLEs. A similar situation is being witnessed today across the country in this year’s DLEs.

The NCCE has, therefore, been educating and encouraging the public to cast their votes in this year’s DLEs.

Speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM on Tuesday, Ms. Addy also noted another reason was the inability of the local government system to deliver.

She stressed the need for people to be educated and encouraged to vote in the DLEs, explaining that people could have a share of the national cake through the assemblies.

“Everybody needs a pep talk and some encouragement and some pampering to go and vote at the local election…First of all, people really don’t understand the local government system, and then secondly, the local government system does not really deliver. People do not understand that your assembly holds your share of the public purse. Your slice of the national cake is in the assembly. But I think that because people do not elect the heads of the assembly, they don’t feel a link,” she said.

Ms. Addy further indicated, “So you can see that people hold the MPs accountable, and they put pressure on them to deliver something for them. So if the MMDCEs were to be elected, there would be a stronger link, there will be stronger accountability, and then that will motivate people to vote. Nonetheless, the assembly members and the unit committee members also play an important role in mobilizing public support around issues, in mobilizing the public to identify what the community really needs to be able to take it to the assembly to be worked on. So it is not a perfect system, and that is part of it, and it is not a system that is working in all its bits and pieces properly together, and that is why there is such low interest.”

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