Dr Eric Oduro Osae, a Local Government Expert, has called for the amendment of Article 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution to allow for the participation of political parties in district level elections and governance.

He said allowing political parties to participate in such elections would whip up citizens’ interest, address issues of low turnout and increase participation in local governance.

The Electoral Commission has set October 3, 2023 for the conduct of the district assembly elections.

However, with barely four months to the elections, concerns have been raised by some state and non-state actors such as the National Commission for Civic Education over low citizens’ interest ahead of the exercise.

Speaking at a stakeholder consultative forum organised by the Centre for Local Governance Advocacy (CLGA) on the 2023 District Level Elections, in Accra, on Wednesday, Dr Osae said, despite the Constitutional guarantee of the right to vote, there had been gross apathy among the citizenry in local governance elections leading to low turnout.

Turnout for district level elections, he said, had been declining from 59.3 per cent in 1988/89 to 33.6 per cent in 2019 as against a national turnout of 2020 Presidential elections of about 78.89 per cent.

Dr Osae said to address the issue going forward, Ghanaians must “bite the bullet” by allowing the amendment of Article 55(3) to permit political parties participation in the district level elections.

Government, between 2018 and 2019 pursued the amendment of Article 55(3) to enable multiparty participation in the districts and 243(1) for the election of MMDCEs, as part of efforts to reform the local governance system and devolve more power and resources to the local communities.

However, a planned national referendum scheduled for December 17, 2019, was cancelled for lack of adequate public knowledge and broad-based consensus on the reforms it would entail.

Dr Osae said “……….if we think involvement of political parties is not good at the national level, we should ban it but if we continue along those lines, then we should bring it to the local level too because what is good for the goose is good for the gander,” he said.

The forum brought together civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, assembly members, the NCCE, youth groups, among others.

The purpose of the forum was to among other things, draw the attention of relevant stakeholders to the critical issues related to the district level elections, raise awareness to the 2023 district level elections and strengthen the capacity of CSOs, FBOs, traditional authorities to mobilise citizens for improved voter turnout.

Mr Samuel Tettey, a Deputy Chair in charge of Operations at the Electoral Commission said the Commission was concerned about the low turnout at district level elections and called for collaborative efforts to address it.

On the 2023 district assembly elections, Mr Tettey said plans were far advanced to conduct a free, fair and successful district level elections come October 3.

Currently, he said, the Commission waiting for Parliament to approve its Constitutional Instrument (C.I. 91) currently before it which would enable them to commence registration of the electorates.

“Some of the activities and I told you that some of the activities are internal, you know, like the logistics that we need for the district level elections, the commission has actually started procuring them. So the only thing left with us is with the approval of the draft C.I. by parliament,” he said.

Mr Dan Botwe, Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, expressed Government’s commitment to deepening decentralization and enhancing development at the local level.

He said in the coming days, the Ministry would collaborate with key stakeholders such as the Electoral Commission, NCCE, ILGS, OHLGS, RCCs and MMDAs to intensify senssitisation ahead of the elections.