A pressure group calling itself ‘The Coalition for the Election of DCEs’ has rejected the Government’s White Paper on the report of the Constitution Review Commission of inquiry on the mode of selecting Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief executives.

The government’s proposal, as contained in the White Paper, is that Article 243(1) of the constitution should be amended for the president to nominate a minimum of five persons, who would be vetted by the Public Services Commission (PSC) for competence, after which three nominees would contest in a public election.

But in a statement issued in Accra over the weekend, the group, with the full backing of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, founder of the Progressive People Party (PPP), has rejected the proposal, insisting that the people must be allowed to elect their own DCE's without any intervention from the government.

The following is the full statement issued by the group;

The Coalition for the Election of DCEs (CED) presented a petition to the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee (CRIC) on Monday 24th June, 2013.

The essence of the petition is to let the CRIC consider the proposal to allow the “People elect directly their own local Chief Executives”.

The CED is a non-partisan collection of people purposely put together to fight for the rights of our people at the local level.

The petition was initiated by Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom and had One Thousand One Hundred and Sixteen citizens of Ghana as signatories. The CRIC would consider the submitted petition and advise the CED for a formal meeting to discuss the content of the petition.

The CED would also petition Parliament and the President of the Republic of Ghana in due course.

The petition is opposed to the Government’s White Paper on the report of the Constitution Review Commission of Inquiry on the mode of selecting Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.

The government’s proposal is that: “Article 243(1) of the constitution should be amended for the President to nominate a minimum of five (5) persons who would be vetted by the Public Services Commission (PSC) for competence, after which three (3) nominees would contest in a public election”.

It is the view of the CED that CRIC, Parliament and the President, should, as a matter of urgency, let the people elect their own local Chief Executives.

Our local areas remain underdeveloped mainly because the leaders- the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives are selected by one person – the president, based on political patronage.

Sometimes, the people who become chief executives are the ones rejected by the same people when they stand election to become Members of Parliament.

As a result, they listen to Accra and NOT the people they are to serve. When the people freely elect their chief executives, they will remove them if they do not deliver at the next election.

The CED invites all citizens who believe in progress in change, accountability and development to support and join the CED as it pursues this noble course.

We encourage labour unions, student groups, professional and business associations, traditional and religious leaders and others to collaborate with the CED.

A public debate to discuss the pros and cons of the local people electing their own Chief Executives will be organized in a few weeks.