President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is currently announcing his nominees for the remaining Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive (MMDCEs) positions.

But the months leading up to this announcement has seen supporters of the governing New Patriotic Party protest against any speculated choice of a Chief Executive they claim they cannot work with.

Just yesterday [Tuesday] in Atiwa in the Eastern Region, a group, calling itself the Concerned Youth of Atiwa, demonstrated to compel President Akufo-Addo to appoint a DCE from Atiwa East and not Atiwa West, to represent the Atiwa District in the Eastern Region.

Again on Tuesday, NPP supporters in the Bawku West Constituency in the Upper East Region vandalised their party office and some departmental offices in the Zebilla district over the alleged appointment of a Chief Executive they did not favour.

Commenting on these developments, a Local Governance Analyst, George Kyei-Baffour, advised the President to not bow to any pressure from his party supporters.

“The party has played its role by submitting a basket of names to the President and they should understand that, of the basket of names that has been submitted to the president, only one person will be appointed.”

“If the President were to kowtow to pressures then he may have to postpone the appointment of some of the people in some of the districts and that is going to create problems because the process will have to be reengineered and that is going to delay the process.”

“Already we are about three months behind schedule since the old MMDCEs had their appointments revoked. So we cannot afford to waste any more time because it will development at the local level,” Mr. Kyei-Baffour said.

NPP urges restraint

The NPP itself has urged its supporters not to use violence to oppose President Akufo-Addo’s choices of MMDCE’s.

The Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Obiri Boahen said the supporters must respect the President’s decision, amidst fears that some groups who are aggressively lobbying for their preferred choice of MMDCEs may resort to violent protests if the president appoints a person they do not support.