‘We intentionally punished Akufo-Addo with MMDCEs election agenda’ – Haruna Iddrisu

Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has admitted that the National Democratic Congress (NDC), while in opposition, deliberately resisted former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s attempt to introduce the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

According to Mr Iddrisu, the NDC’s opposition to the proposal was partly motivated by a desire to frustrate the Akufo-Addo administration, even though the party recognised the importance of electing MMDCEs as part of Ghana’s decentralisation process.

The admission has revived debate over one of the major constitutional and decentralisation reforms that dominated Ghanaian politics during the Akufo-Addo administration.

Mr Iddrisu reportedly made the comments while discussing the long-running debate over the election of MMDCEs and the political considerations that surrounded the proposal.

Under Ghana’s existing constitutional arrangement, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives are appointed by the President, subject to approval by the relevant assemblies.

The Akufo-Addo administration sought to amend the Constitution to allow MMDCEs to be elected, arguing that the move would deepen local democracy and strengthen accountability at the local level.

However, the process eventually stalled after disagreements emerged over aspects of the proposed reforms.

Akufo-Addo’s push for elected MMDCEs

The election of MMDCEs was one of the governance reforms pursued by the Akufo-Addo administration after it assumed office in 2017.

The former President had argued that allowing citizens to directly elect their local chief executives would strengthen Ghana’s decentralisation system and make local officials more accountable to the people they served.

The government therefore initiated processes to amend Article 243(1) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides for the appointment of District Chief Executives by the President.

At the time, the proposal appeared to enjoy considerable support across the political divide.

The NDC, although it had concerns about other aspects of the proposed constitutional reforms, had previously expressed support for the election of MMDCEs.

Former President John Dramani Mahama, for instance, argued in 2019 that the provision allowing the President to appoint DCEs needed to be repealed if Ghana was serious about deepening decentralisation.

The referendum controversy

The MMDCE issue became closely connected to another controversial proposal: whether political parties should be allowed to openly participate in district assembly and unit committee elections.

The Akufo-Addo government initially planned a referendum on an amendment to Article 55(3) of the Constitution, which would have allowed political parties to sponsor candidates in local-level elections.

The referendum was scheduled for December 17, 2019.

However, the NDC eventually announced its opposition to the proposed amendment and began campaigning for a “No” vote.

President Akufo-Addo subsequently cancelled the referendum and instructed the government to withdraw both the Article 55(3) amendment and the Bill seeking to amend Article 243(1) to allow for elected MMDCEs.

In his national address at the time, Akufo-Addo said that although he believed there was enough support for the proposed changes, he did not believe such an important constitutional amendment should proceed without a broad national consensus.

Why the NDC opposed the reforms

The NDC’s concerns centred largely on the involvement of political parties in local-level elections.

The party argued that allowing partisan politics to dominate district assembly elections could undermine the non-partisan character of local governance and potentially deepen political polarisation at the grassroots.

However, the latest comments attributed to Haruna Iddrisu suggest that there was also a political calculation behind the NDC’s position.

His admission that the party intentionally sought to punish the Akufo-Addo administration by opposing the MMDCE agenda is likely to generate renewed criticism from supporters of the former government, particularly those who argued at the time that the NDC had abandoned a reform it had previously supported.

What the election of MMDCEs would have meant

The election of MMDCEs has long been presented as one of the potential ways of strengthening Ghana’s decentralisation system.

Under the current arrangement, the President appoints MMDCEs, although the appointments require approval from members of the respective Metropolitan, Municipal or District Assembly.

Critics of the appointment system argue that it gives the central government considerable influence over local administration.

Supporters of elected MMDCEs believe direct elections would make local chief executives more accountable to residents because they would have to seek the mandate of the people.

They argue that an elected MMDCE would have a stronger incentive to respond to local concerns rather than primarily focusing on maintaining the confidence of the appointing government.

The proposal has therefore been viewed by some governance experts as an important step towards strengthening local democracy.

A reform caught between principle and politics

The controversy surrounding the MMDCE proposal also illustrates the difficulty of implementing constitutional reforms in Ghana.

While political parties may agree in principle on the need for reform, disagreements can emerge when the proposed changes have the potential to affect their electoral interests.

This was particularly evident in the debate over whether political parties should be permitted to participate in local elections.

The NDC feared that partisan participation could destroy the relatively non-partisan character of district assembly elections, while the Akufo-Addo administration argued that political parties already played an informal role in local politics and that openly allowing them to participate would make the system more transparent.

The disagreement ultimately contributed to the collapse of the planned referendum.

Akufo-Addo eventually abandoned the process

In December 2019, Akufo-Addo directed the withdrawal of the constitutional amendment Bills and cancelled the planned referendum.

He explained that he had initially believed there was a national consensus for the proposed changes but said the NDC’s decision to campaign against the referendum had altered the political environment.

The former President maintained that constitutional amendments of such significance required broad national agreement.

At the time, observers described the election of MMDCEs as potentially one of the most significant reforms of Akufo-Addo’s presidency.

Franklin Cudjoe of IMANI Africa, for example, described the possible election of MMDCEs as something that could have become Akufo-Addo’s best legacy.

Haruna’s comments reopen an old political argument

The latest comments from Haruna Iddrisu are likely to reopen the argument over whether partisan political interests were placed ahead of Ghana’s decentralisation agenda.

For supporters of the Akufo-Addo administration, the comments could be interpreted as confirmation that the NDC’s opposition was not solely based on concerns about the constitutional proposal itself.

For the NDC, however, the issue remains more complicated, particularly because the party had raised concerns about the broader package of constitutional amendments and the potential impact of partisan politics on local governance.

The debate also raises a broader question about Ghana’s political culture: should major governance reforms be supported or rejected based on their merits, regardless of which political party introduces them?

The bigger issue: Ghana’s decentralisation

Beyond the political exchanges between the NPP and NDC, the MMDCE debate touches on a much larger question about how Ghana should govern itself.

Ghana has pursued decentralisation for decades, with the objective of transferring administrative and developmental responsibilities from central government to local authorities.

Yet critics have consistently argued that local assemblies remain heavily dependent on central government and that the appointment of MMDCEs limits the independence of local administration.

Direct elections could potentially change that dynamic, but questions would remain about campaign financing, political party involvement, accountability and whether elected MMDCEs would have sufficient financial and administrative independence to effectively govern.

The failure of the previous reform attempt means those questions remain unresolved.

What the latest admission means

Haruna Iddrisu’s comments have brought an old political controversy back into the national conversation.

The admission that the NDC deliberately sought to punish Akufo-Addo over the MMDCE issue provides a new perspective on the political calculations that surrounded the failed reform.

It also highlights the tension that can arise when political parties attempt to balance their immediate electoral interests against long-term institutional reforms.

For many Ghanaians, the fundamental question remains whether the country can eventually reach a genuine bipartisan consensus on the election of MMDCEs.

The issue has already survived several administrations and political disagreements.

Whether a future government will succeed in reviving the reform—and whether the major political parties can agree on the terms—remains to be seen.

For now, Haruna Iddrisu’s admission has once again placed the election of MMDCEs, decentralisation and the role of partisan politics in local governance at the centre of Ghana’s political discussion.