Nana Kofi Senyah
Nana Kofi Senyah, the Assemblyman for New Suame Electoral area in has raised concerns about the appointment of Interim Management Committee (IMCs) as another problem in the local government system.
He said Section 4 of Act 936 of 2016 enjoins the MMDA’s to be a corporate body with a perpetual succession in nature and that whenever a situation arises and the Electoral Commission is unable to conduct elections, the President on the strength of Section 6 (3) of Act 936 shall appoint an Interim Management Committee to perform the functions of the Assembly until elections are conducted.
In such a case, Nana Senyah explained that there will be no assembly members as well as presiding members in the system and therefore the management committee shall perform the deliberative, legislative and executive functions of the Assembly, in which case there shall be no role for MMDCE’S.
According to him, the NDC administration in the rush to amend the previous Act to suit their whims and caprice did so with impunity thus creating the current problem in that the constitution does not recognise IMCs hence they are unconstitutional because Article 20 is yet to be amended.
The former Presiding Member of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), reminded the Local Government Minister that the 1992 Constitution is the parent law of the land and that any law that is not consistent with it shall be declared null and void and recommended that the dissolution of the MMDA’s must be in conformity with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
He said Article 113 (2) of Ghana’s Constitution requires that, anytime Ghana is engaged in war, Parliament may, from time to time, by resolution and supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all Members of Parliament, extend the period of four years specified in clause (1) of the Article for not more than 12 months at a time, except that the life of Parliament shall not be extended under this clause for more than four years.
The former KMA Presiding Member pointed out that nowhere in the constitution is the President or the executive allowed to make an appointment to fill in the vacuum, when Parliament stands dissolved saying the Legislative Instruments take their roots from the Constitution of Ghana.
According to him such provisions in section 6 (3) of Act 936 of the MMDA’s are therefore not consistent with the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, and could broaden corruption in the MMDA’s if not checked.
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