Why Appointments Of MMDCEs Have stalled, The Inside Story

It’s been some eight months since Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo -Addo, was sworn into a second   term tenure as the President of the Republic.

He has since completed with his ministerial, deputy ministerial and regional ministerial appointments.

What seems to occupy the President currently, is the appointments of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) for various public corporate institutions and the constitution of boards of state agencies.

But one very important, if not the most crucial component of governance, the appointments of   the Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) is still hanging in a limbo.

Although the President sometime last month, pleaded with Ghanaians to give him some time to scrutinize some of the names that have come up, The Today Newspaper can state on authority that there is more to the issue, than just a presidential plea.

Party General Secretary John Boadu has given every indication yet, that the compilation of names of prospective MMDCEs had since been handed over to the presidency for consideration and approval.

So what really is stalling the MMDCEs appointments process? Underground hounds made by the paper show that there’s intense lobbying for the various MMDCEs positions by party stalwarts that the presidency seems to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Curriculum Vitae (CVs) of prospective candidates.

The appointments of the MMDCEs have become the more problematic some of these top officials of the administration and those from the NPP hierarchy, have all presented names of their preferred candidates to the presidency for consideration.

The numbers, we discovered were far in excess of the existing vacant MMDCEs’ positions.

There is also as Today discovered, sitting MMDCEs who  have been asked to stay on in acting capacities, but are bent on staying on and are thus lobbying to get re-confirmation from the President.

The group however, seems  to be getting the flak from some party members who believe it’s unfair for them to hang on, let alone to be given another chance to serve in that capacity.

In the case of the later view point, it would be preposterous for anyone within the acting MMDCs bracket to look forward to being re-appointed  because the MMDCEs’ position is supposed to be spread to cover many party functionaries who may have  contributed in diverse ways to the current position of the NPP.

However, the most poignant cog in the rigmarole is the attempt by some elements in the party to use the MMDCEs as surrogates to support the candidature of their proffered candidate in the NPP presidential nomination.

As leaders in the local areas, they would be expected to do underground bidding of Dr Bawumia from the day of their appointments till when the Bawumia nomination will be ratified by the party.

Today is authoritatively informed that the nomination of Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahmoud Bawumia, is the longest shot of many big-wigs, especially those in the administration, including the President himself.

The President himself was only short of naming Dr Bawumia as his preferred candidate in the NPP primaries during a working visit to Walewale, the hometown of Dr Bawumia.

He told the people of Wawale that their son has been the most qualified Vice President in the 4th Republic.

NPP chairman, Freddy Blay could not embellish his take on the subject as the President did. He was blunt about his support for the Vice President, and even teased that there was nothing wrong with the President supporting his vice in the NPP presidential nomination.

The bigger issue however remains how some of the MMDCEs may take what might seem to be arm twisting to get favoured persons of the presidency and the party hierarchy to occupy the MMDCEs’ positions.

They certainly will outnumber the favoured view and that could set the party in collision with its own self.

Credit: Today Newspaper