Civil Society Organisation, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability, ASEPA, has criticized the selection process used for the nomination of Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives, MMDCEs, saying it was unnecessarily cumbersome.
According to ASEPA, the process where persons were asked to apply for the position, undergo selection interviews with subsequent recommendations to the President did not only prolong the selection but failed to meet expectations.
An analysis report by the Organization reckons that for the first time in the history of the 4th Republic, MMDCEs have been nominated 9 months after a Presidential transition.
ASEPA observed that the process dragged on for too long, further increasing the tension, which contributed to violence recorded across the country prior to the announcement and after the announcement.
The critique comes after the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Dan Botwe released the nominee list of MMDCEs. In the report, ASEPA stated that despite the strenuous processes’ applicants went through to be considered for the position, only 56% of the nominees were recommended by the Vetting Committee in the final report. The remainder, according to the Organization were not recommended by the Vetting Committee but were nominated by the President with 10% not applying but making it to the list.
ASEPA therefore questioned why the President would adopt a selection process and in the end discard almost half of the Committee’s recommendations. It predicted that considering the raised tension, party discontent and anger that greeted some of the announcements, some of the Assemblies are likely to end the year without confirmed MMDCEs.
