Repeal of Article 55(3) : The matter will be brought back - President Akufo-Addo

The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo has reiterated his resolve to seek the repeal of Article 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution to get Political Parties involved in the Local Governance of the Country.

According to him, records from District Assembly elections over the years have shown that Ghanaians lack interest in the affairs of the local Governance thus remain committed to doing everything within his tenure to remove the legislative barrier to get political parties to sponsor parties to contest District Assembly elections to strengthen the country’s Local Governance structure.

“Fellow Ghanaians one primary goal of the Constitution was to decentralize the structure of governance so that governance will be brought closer to the people. One fundamental barrier to the realization of this goal has to do with the ramifications of Article 55(3) of the constitution which currently bars all Political parties from involvement in District Assembly elections and Local Government"

“The attempt I made in 2019 to repeal this article to achieve this vision to allow for the participation of the political parties in local government was aborted because of the lack of a broad national consensus when the Opposition NDC signaled its inability to back the repeal. It was and continues to be my view that the repeal or modification of an entrenched clause of the constitution should attract widespread support to make it acceptable.”

“On the average,  the turn out for national elections in the 4th Republic has been72% one of the highest in the world whiles the turnout for non-partisan local government elections has always hovered around 30%.”

In an address to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Referendum to adopt the 1992 Constitution, President Akuffo hinted that even though his last attempt at achieving this was aborted, he was ready to bring it back again and announce the way forward after the necessary consultation.

“I' ve said it before and I will repeat it. I will continue to work for the extensive national consensus on this issue and should such a consensus be attained, and the agreement reached for political parties to participate and sponsor candidates to District Assemblies at any point during the remainder of my tenure in office as president of the republic. The matter will be brought back again.”