Involve grassroots in MMDCE appointments to reduce tension – Agorhom

The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Divine Otoo Agorhom, has called for a grassroots-led approach in selecting Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), stressing the need for internal party vetting before final nominations are forwarded to the President.

His proposal follows a series of protests by supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in various districts, where some MMDCE nominations have been publicly rejected.

Speaking on Channel One Newsroom on Sunday, April 13, Agorhom highlighted the importance of party ownership in the selection process. He argued that involving constituency-level structures would help ensure greater acceptance of appointees and reduce political tension.

“We should get the applicants to first of all go to the constituency so that the party endorses them because it is the party that produces the government,” he said. “Then the constituency party looks at it and says yes, we know this person and he’s lived well with us, and we think that, knowing him and knowing his contribution within this space, that person will be able to meet the political expectations in terms of the people.”

He further explained, “So that it will start from the constituency before coming to the region. The region will further do its own filtration before we send it to the national committee, which will do further shortlisting before presenting it to the president. So the three shortlisted would have gone through all the stages of filtration, and any of them will be accepted by the grassroots.”

Agorhom also advocated for a long-term structural reform that would see MMDCEs elected rather than appointed.

“I think until we get to the process where MMDCEs are elected, this should be the procedure every party should adopt,” he added.