The National Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Henry Nana Boakye, says President Akufo-Addo was not obliged to nominate MMDCEs from the recommendations presented by the Selection Committee of the party.

According to Nana Boakye, the new process where interested persons applied for the post and undergo a vetting process before they are recommended was only meant to aid the president in selecting a good candidate for the districts.

Speaking on Top Story on Monday, he said that candidates were made aware that the selection by the President was the final step to getting nominated and not the selection process they were going through at the regional level.

“There are people we even went into their background, we did so many things afterward. For me I even went to Bono East, then we vetted some people and we sent our recommendation to the national level. They also did the same, they sat on it, also vetted all these people and ultimately it ended with the President."

"Yes, that is the process. But, we told them that what we are going through is not the ultimate process, the ultimate process will be the President nominating whoever, he pleases but obviously, this exercise will also aid him," Nana B, as he is popularly known, told Evans Mensah host of the show.

Nana B stated that after seeing the nominations list of 260 people, the new selection process definitely did help the President in choosing candidates for the MMDCEs position.

He added that in cases where people on the recommendations list were not selected, there may have been other consultations that took place after the list was presented to the President.

“So I don’t think this should be a problem at all,” he stated.

His comment follows the discontent and anger that greeted the announcements of MMDCE nominees.

Already, a cross-section of Ghanaians fear that some of the Districts are likely to end the year without confirmed MMDCEs.

This is because some party supporters claim “strangers” are being imposed on them while others say the process was not transparent.

ASEPA following the release of the list via its report analysis questioned why the President would adopt a selection process and in the end, still discard almost half of the committee’s recommendations.

They stated that despite the processes applicants went through to be considered for the position, only 56% of the MMDCE nominees in the list released were recommended by the vetting committee in their final report.

The CSO revealed that “out of the 44% of the nominees who were not recommended by the vetting committee but were nominated by the President, 10% did not apply for the job or were not on the list of persons who were vetted by the committee.”

ASEPA added that considering the tension, party discontent, and anger that greeted some of the announcements, some of the Districts are likely to end the year without confirmed MMDCEs.

However, Nana B believes that party supporters should be measured in expressing their displeasure over the list of nominees. 

He stated that there were about 2000 people that applied for the MMDCEs positions across the country, however, all those applicants cannot be chosen for the limited positions available.

“The process started right from the regional level to the national level and ultimately it ended in the bosom of the President. The President cannot appoint all 2000 aspirants. Myself, I had a few people I thought could be MMDCEs, I am even disappointed. There are some I am happy about. So, what we are calling for is calm.”