December 17 Referendum: ‘No’ vote will take Ghana backwards – Paul Adom-Otchere
Whilst political watchers, civil society organizations and some political parties are campaigning for a massive ‘No’ vote in the upcoming referendum on December 17, journalist and host of Good Evening Ghana, Paul Adom-Otchere has warned that the ‘No’ vote will rather take Ghana backwards.
Read full article According to him, article 55 of the 1992 constitution which prevents political parties from participating in local government elections was an accident in the history of Ghana.
In what he said will make Ghana a ‘brown’ country, Paul, on the other hand, campaigned for a ‘Yes’ vote; which he said will make Ghana a progressive country.
“Do you want a brown Ghana…? A Ghana with no light, a Ghana with darkness, a Ghana without definition… that's what a ‘No’ vote will give you,” Adom-Otchere said.
“A ‘No’ vote will take Ghana backwards and make the local government system which has performed poorly for the last 35-years perform even poorer. No country in the world does this; only Ghana does it. And Ghana does it because clever people schemed it that way. It was an accident of history,” he noted.
Mr Adom-Otchere blamed Prof Kwamina Ahwoi and others for it. He added that the ‘Yes’ vote will give Ghana that power to take on other African countries and demonstrate its real great leadership and restore confidence in the local government system.
“It will break the winner-takes-all phenomenon which has been a scourge over our country from the days of independence. This is the first opportunity presented to our country by the president to be able to defeat the winner-takes-all and reduce the powers of the president and deconstruct the powers of article 58,” he stressed.
Ghanaians will go to the polls on December 17 to decide whether the local government elections should be partisan or not.
The referendum, when accepted by Ghana, will seek to amend Article 55 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, where Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) will be elected based on partisanship.
