A youth activist and Chief Executive of KAVREALITY GH. Limited, Mr. Villey Acheampong, has joined the growing number of individuals and institutions, across the country, backing a ‘YES vote’ in the impending December 17, 2019 Referendum, to strengthen local development.

Mr. Acheampong said allowing people to elect Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), on party lines, will further deepen democracy at the grass-root levels.

He observed that regardless of whichever political party the office of the MMDCEs may be coming from, development will be a priority since the power to ‘appoint or disappoint’ now will now reside with the people, unlike the current practice.

This, he noted, will empower in demanding for their fair share of development since nonperforming office holders could easily be voted out as compared to what pertains now.

He advised that good leadership skills, individual contribution to the development of the people or in other words the overall competence of the candidate should be a determining factor at such elections.

He, therefore, urged those who oppose the idea fearing that people will just vote on party lines to rather be advocates of empowering the people to live above politics.

Mr. Acheampong, who is a constituent of Subin, in the Ashanti Region, made these remarks in an interview in efforts to further create public awareness of the scheduled nationwide exercise.

The referendum slated to come off in the third week of December 2019 and will give the public the opportunity to decide whether Article 55 (3) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which prohibits the involvement of political parties in local elections should be amended to include political parties in local government elections.

While the exercise is ongoing, it is understood that Parliament will also be concurrently addressing the issue of the amendment of Article 243 to allow for the election of MMDCEs.