The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has defended government’s position against fully partisan elections for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), arguing that such an arrangement could undermine development at the local level.

Deputy Director of Elections and Information Technology of the NDC, Rashid Tanko Computer, said Ghana’s political culture makes it risky to have MMDCEs from a political party different from the party controlling central government.

Speaking on Joy FM Top Story on Wednesday, September 9, he cited the possibility of an opposition MMDCE being elected in major cities such as Kumasi or Accra while a different political party controls central government.

“Imagine you have His Excellency John Dramani Mahama and the NDC government in place, and then you are going to have an NPP man being an MCE in Kumasi or Accra. What do you expect? What kind of correlation are you going to have? It's going to stifle development,” he stated.

According to him, Ghana’s system of local governance must take into account the country’s political culture and traditions rather than simply adopting governance models from Western countries.

“We can't just go and borrow the democracy practices in the Western world and come and implement it in totality. We will have difficulties in implementing major decisions and other things, because you know the politics we do in Ghana,” he said.

Mr Tanko Computer further defended government’s proposed model for selecting MMDCEs, insisting it would still give residents a meaningful opportunity to choose their local leaders.

Under the proposed arrangement, five candidates would first be selected and subjected to interviews by the Public Services Commission.

Three candidates would then proceed to the final stage, where residents within the district would vote to select their MMDCE.

He said the proposed system is significantly different from the current arrangement, under which the President nominates an individual and assembly members vote on the nominee.

“This one government has no role in it. And then they will now go and have universal suffrage within the district of which they are going to preside over, and they will decide their seat over there. It's not the assemblymen who will now decide the seat. So it's completely different,” he said.

Mr Tanko Computer maintained that the proposed system seeks to balance democratic participation with the need for effective coordination between local and central government.

His defence follows the Trades Union Congress (TUC) rejecting government’s proposal for the selection of MMDCEs, insisting that districts must be allowed to independently choose their leaders.