Engagement with Members of the Ghana Actors Guild and Screen Actors Guild, leadership of Musician Union of Ghana (MUSIGA)
The ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has been working to change Articles 55(3) and 243(1) to reform the local government system and devolve more power and resources to local communities since 2018. However, the national referendum set for December 17, 2019, was canceled, and the proposal to change Article 243(1) was withdrawn. Following the cancellation, research and analysis revealed a lack of proper education about the referendum’s purpose, as well as public awareness of the benefits that the amendment would bring. Since then, both the NPP administration and the NDC opposition have reiterated their pledge to refocus and pursue local governance reforms if elected in the mandate year 2021-2024.
Disenchanted Ghanaians, particularly the young, have voiced interest in not just local governance reform but also the drafting of a new constitution, since the 2020 elections. Furthermore, the CDD-Ghana’s post-2020 election survey revealed that majority of Ghanaians support the election of MMDCEs (71%) on nonpartisan basis. Only 20% of Ghanaians, prefers the contrary. Citizen participation in governance is crucial in mitigating marginalization, promoting political and social inclusion and strengthening democracy and governance. According to the evidence so far, Ghanaians have differing opinions on how to democratize the current local government system and multiparty constitutional democracy.
In this regard, the IDEG On the 22nd of February 2022 IDEG held an engagement with the leadership of MUSIGA, the Ghana Actors Guild and Screen Actors Guild themed “Reconstructing Local Governance and Multiparty Democracy in the 4th Republic: The Role of Musicians and Actors”, at the IDEG House, East Legon. This was to discuss IDEG’s strategic constitutional amendment agenda and the compiled set of reform proposals in order to mobilize informed and strong public support for popular approval of the local governance reform. Specifically, the engagement sought to proffer the following outcomes; (I) participants will give indication of their position on multiparty local governance, (II) Lend their support to local governance reforms. (IV) Offer valuable insights on how to pursue the reforms. MUSIGA, the Ghana Actors Guild and Screen Actors Guild represent a credible and influential group with millions of followers. This makes them crucial in the advocacy, education and dissemination of information on the topic to ultimately build broad based consensus.
The topics discussed included: (I) Challenges affecting Local Governance System in Ghana, presented by Mr. Kwesi Jonah, Senior Research Fellow, IDEG (II) Proposals for Transformational Local Governance, presented by Dr. Kofi Asante, Senior Research Fellow, IDEG and (III) Strategic Approach to the Amendments of the 1992 Constitution, presented by Dr Emmanuel Akwetey-Executive Director, IDEG.