The Achiase District Assembly has inaugurated a 13 member campaign team to solicit for ‘YES’ votes for the upcoming Referendum. The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his 2018 State of the Nation Address, announced government’s intention to amend some parts of the constitution in order to allow political parties participate in local governance elections. The Electoral Commission (EC) has since settled on December 17, this year for the referendum. The referendum seeks to amend articles 55 (3) and 243 (1) of the constitution to allow for the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) on partisan basis.
Campaign team
The 13 member campaign team which was inaugurated on Wednesday, October 13, comprise of the District Chief Executive (DCE) as the Chairman with the Constituency’s Member of Parliament (MP), the District Coordinating Director and the District Police Commander as members.
Other member are one representative from the Achiase Traditional Council, the Presiding Member of the Assembly, who shall be representing the Assembly Members in the district, one representative each from the Muslim and Christian Communities in the district and the Achiase Constituency Chairmen of the two main political parties, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The rest are one representative from farmers groups in the district, and one each from the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Services Department (ISD).
Mandate
The mandate of the campaign team is to mobilise for support for the referendum. Speaking to the Daily Statesman after its inauguration, the DCE for the Achiase District, Richmond Agyabeng Amponsah indicated that the campaign team is mandated to ensure the needed 40 per cent of the total registered voters in the district vote on the day of the election. “It is also the mandate of the team to ensure that out of the 40 per cent, the needed 75 per cent Yes votes are garnered for the referendum,” he said.
