Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Kathleen Addy, has attributed the low interest of Ghanaians in District Level Elections (DLEs) to their lack of understanding of the local government system and the system’s failure to deliver.
Voter turnouts during DLEs have historically been low, and this trend continues in this year’s elections. The NCCE has been working to educate and motivate the public to participate in the elections.
Ms. Addy emphasized the importance of educating people about the local government system and encouraging them to vote, highlighting the potential benefits individuals can gain through participation in the assemblies.
“Everybody needs a pep talk and some encouragement and some pampering to go and vote at the local election…First of all, people really don’t understand the local government system, and then secondly, the local government system does not really deliver. People do not understand that your assembly holds your share of the public purse. Your slice of the national cake is in the assembly. But I think that because people do not elect the heads of the assembly, they don’t feel a link,” she said.
Ms. Addy further indicated, “So you can see that people hold the MPs accountable, and they put pressure on them to deliver something for them. So if the MMDCEs were to be elected, there would be a stronger link, there will be stronger accountability, and then that will motivate people to vote. Nonetheless, the assembly members and the unit committee members also play an important role in mobilizing public support around issues, in mobilizing the public to identify what the community really needs to be able to take it to the assembly to be worked on. So it is not a perfect system, and that is part of it, and it is not a system that is working in all its bits and pieces properly together, and that is why there is such low interest.”