DECISION PRUDENT - 2 ACADEMICS DECLARE (P.1) 16-01-09

Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE directive from President Mills to all metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) to stay in office until further notice has been applauded by two academicians as a good decision that serves the interest of the nation.
They, therefore, dismissed comments, including the one expressed by former President Rawlings, against the decision and urged President Mills to be firm in his actions to assure the nation that he was fully in charge of affairs.
The Dean of the Department of Social Studies of the University of Ghana, Professor Joseph Atsu Ayee, and a lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Cape Coast, Mr Joseph Kingsley Adjei, made those comments in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
“The problem the President faces now is a litmus test which he must pass,” Mr Adjei remarked.
Following the defeat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the December 2008 polls, some MMDCEs under its regime were reported to have abandoned their posts, with the explanation that once their party was out of power, they also had to leave office.
However, soon after taking office on January 7, 2009 President Mills directed all MMDCEs to remain in office until otherwise notified.
That directive has been criticised by some activists within his National Democratic Congress (NDC) who insist that the MMDCEs must leave office to signify a change from the old order.
That view was echoed in public last Wednesday by former President Rawlings, who is also the founder of the NDC, at a meeting with some party executives and in the presence of the media. At that forum, Flt Lt Rawlings questioned the wisdom in the President’s directive.
According to the two university dons, the President’s directive was a wise one because it was aimed at avoiding a political administrative vacuum.
In their opinion, the comments made by former President Rawlings were a challenge to the perception that Prof Mills was not a man of his own mind.
Prof Ayee said it was a test for President Mills to demonstrate his capacity to rule the nation.
He said although former President Rawlings had a lot of experience, he should have consulted President Mills over his (Rawlings’s) concerns, instead of expressing them in the manner in which he did.
Prof Ayee, whose speciality is in local governance, said after a change of government, MMDCEs could stay in office up to about six months, since it took time for the new government to appoint new MMDCEs.
He said the President needed to appoint competent people for all the districts and that had to be done after thorough consultations. Moreover, the President needed to act in a manner that would not be misconstrued as witch-hunting of political opponents.
Prof Ayee did not have any problem with the loyalty of NPP MMDCEs working for the NDC government, explaining that for administrative expediency, the MMDCEs could be asked to work without taking major decisions.
He described instances when some NDC members were reported to have taken over the assets of district assemblies and other government establishments as unhealthy and advised those party activists to be patient because “politics is not a question of vendetta but to give and take and try to heal wounds”.
On the election of MMDCEs, Prof Ayee said it was difficult to understand why there was partisan politics at the national level where the President was elected but not at the local level in respect of MMDCEs.
According to him, the appointment of MMDCEs had created problems at the local level in the past because the chief executives tended to be accountable to the President, who appointed them, and not the people whom they served.
He said although expectations of the new government were high, it was up to the Mills administration to absorb all the pressure because one measure of good governance was the capacity to absorb pressure and take action.
Sharing his thoughts on the issue, Mr Adjei said it was appropriate for President Mills to have asked the MMDCEs to stay in office because “elections are not coups d’etat but processes that bring change”.
He said it was expected that once there had been change, the old order would give way to the new order, but pointed out that in a democracy there was the need for a smooth transition from one government to another.
Mr Adjei said under no circumstance must government business be allowed to come to a halt, stressing, “It’s a prudent decision to ensure that people keep doing government business.”
He said the nature of the elections, which went into a run-off and a decider at Tain, was such that the two front-line candidates did not know their fate for them to think about appointing MMDCEs.
He said the MMDCEs had an obligation to heed the directive of the President because their appointment to those offices made them servants of the state and not of any political party.
Dismissing any suggestion of vendetta, Mr Adjei said the comments made by former President Rawlings might have been informed by certain incidents in the past after the NPP had taken office.
He cited an incident in 2001 when some people stormed the residence of Prof Mills who had then travelled out of the country to retrieve a vehicle, an action that was said to have traumatised his wife, Naadu, in the process.
Mr Adjei said the former President’s comments also fed into the assertion by some NPP activists during the campaigning that a vote for Prof Mills would mean a vote for Rawlings.
He said if President Mills stood his ground, it would be a plus for him. On the other hand, he could also step on the toes of some NDC members who might share the concerns of the former President.
“It is up to President Mills to conduct himself in a way that will give assurance that he will be a good President,” he noted.
Commenting on the election of MMDCEs, Mr Adjei described as a “national hypocrisy” the practice of electing the President, Members of Parliament (MPs) and assembly members but not MMDCEs.
He said the election of MMDCEs would avoid the situation where the chief executives became stooges of the President.
Mr Adjei said election was one major characteristic of democracy and even suggested the election of regional ministers to ensure a fixed tenure in office and service to the state.