Only a few African countries have a well- developed private sector and so the opportunities for privatisation might be limited Ayee, Even then, the experience to date in many countries shows that local authorities can help to stimulate local economic development by contracting with private sector operators for the delivery of its services through a process of separating provision from production Ostrom et al.
Moreover, many African countries developed their basic educational and health system through collaboration with religious and philanthropic organisations in the past Hyden, The takeover of these responsibilities by national governments in the post-independence period led to some erosion of service quality.
Consequently, some countries are beginning to revert to this collaboration with civil society organisations Ayee, Whereas decentralisation, including devolution, can take many different forms and has to be adapted to specific local prevailing conditions, capacities, historical and political realities and in practice, involves a mix of the three types, it is still possible to identify some key requirements for decentralisation to be effective as a means for enhanced service delivery and local democracy ibid.
These preconditions, according to Jesper and Per can be summarised as five dimensions for effective decentralisation. Only if significant responsibilities are assigned to local governments can they play a role in poverty alleviation and address local needs.
Assignment of responsibilities should be in accordance with local capacities. Finances to be provided must include a proper mix of own local revenue sources, intergovernmental fiscal transfers and borrowing. A certain level of fiscal autonomy is required to ensure that potential benefits of decentralisation can materialise, albeit this autonomy has to be designed in a manner which does not compromise overall national targets.
Some degree of local control of staff is required to ensure local level autonomy and thus benefit from decentralisation. Effective decentralisation of the public service will require significant co-ordination across sectors and a substantial overhaul of most line ministries and other central institutions.
This is because decentralisation has been associated with a number of beneficial outcomes that have either direct or indirect bearing on local and national governance Ayee, , p. Decentralisation ensures the attainment of two core democratic principles. These are popular control over collective decision making and political equality in the exercise of that control Crawford, Clearly, these two principles are realised most effectively in small groups or associations, that is where direct popular control enables each person to speak and vote.
In larger associations, including the nation-state, popular control must be exercised more indirectly through the selection of representatives, but with questions arising as regards how effective that control is and how equally distributed it is among different groups of citizens ibid.
In this respect, local government has the potential to enhance the realisation of democratic principles, given that selection of representatives and decision-making structures are on a smaller scale, more open to influence and effective participation.
Other benefits of decentralisation include reduction in bureaucracy associated with planning and co-coordinating at central levels; improved responsiveness to local demands for effectiveness and efficiency and public service delivery; a greater ability for officials familiar with local-level problems to tailor development plans to particular needs; the greater representation of political, religious, ethnic and tribal groups in the process of formulating these development plans; and enhanced system of accountability Rondinell, , pp.
According to Ayee , decentralisation is a political process whose objectives cannot be achieved overnight. It involves a major political and technical risks and trade-offs. Consequently, it must not be regarded as a panacea or quick fix for problems of underdevelopment.
This notwithstanding, if the tenets of decentralisation are strictly adhered to, the concept would serve as a viable strategy for the promotion of effective grassroots participation in decision-making and local governance. Direct elections of mayors and provincial leaders take place in both developing and developed countries in all six continents of the world. Many of these local leaders were not from the districts that they ran.
These leaders acted more as agents of the central government than as representatives of the people Pan, However, direct elections of local leaders including mayors have been introduced. The introduction of direct local election of local leaders has given the people a real sense of democracy in action.
Indonesians are also hopeful that decentralising power to the regions will improve accountability and the delivery of services from their elected representatives. Writing on direct elections in Belgium, Reynaert and Steyvers noted that direct elections of mayors are a popular issue in political renewal in many European countries. In their analysis of policy debates in Belgium, they noted that the selection of mayors in Belgium has over the years developed from authoritarian to democratic mode, where mayors are directly elected by the people at the local level.
Burton and Stevens have also pointed out the fact that Brazil has almost five thousand self-governing municipalities. They stressed that the constitution guarantees the independence of the Brazilian states and local levels of government.
A major reason for the referendum loss by President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in was the inclusion of an item to abolish the direct election of mayors to be replaced by their appointment by the President. Many supporters of President Hugo Chavez deserted him as the direct election of mayors had become a popular route through which local people participated in direct governance of their municipalities.
According to Hartmann , although local councils have existed in most African countries ever since colonial times, they have enjoyed a brief and fragile life as institutions of democratic representative government. African leaders - and scientists - challenged their very existence, and councils were abolished, or, where they remained in existence, transformed soon after independence into bodies with very limited powers and autonomy.
Local and regional councils were perceived as a political threat to national governments or as a barrier to the realisation of national development plans. Many African central governments also intervened in the affairs of sub-national councils in response to allegations of corruption, inefficiency and ethnic conflict.
Hartmann also asserts that the more recent wave of democratisation in Sub-Saharan Africa has ushered in a new interest in elected local councilors. He cited examples of countries in Africa that directly elect their local mayors as including South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia. He noted that in these countries, citizens living under the jurisdiction of cities and towns directly elect their urban councilors including mayors.
The population living in the rural areas elect their district councilors and DCEs. Data from both secondary and primary sources were used. Data from the secondary sources were gathered largely through library research where information from published books, articles, reports, and others were used. The primary sources of data collection involved interviews with carefully selected known governance experts in Ghana, former ministers of Local Government and Rural Development and other state officials.
Through these interviews adequate and first hand information on decentralisation in Ghana, its objectives and constraints were gathered. Again through such interviews, information as to the rationale behind the current mode of appointment of District Chief Executives, as well as the arguments against it were known. Several calls have been made for the need to review the current mode of appointment of District Chief Executives in Ghana by the president. This was to test the extent to which political parties were committed to achieving an effective decentralisation that ensures autonomy and greater participation by people in decision making and implementation.
Hence we should expect various views on the issue of direct election of DCEs and mayors in Ghana. While some have strong arguments to support the direct election of DCEs, others have argued strongly against it. These arguments are summarised below. The Case for Direct Election of DCEs Those who advocate direct election by the people have built their argument on three key issues, namely popular sovereignty, legitimacy and political accountability, and responsibility.
The achievement of popular sovereignty requires that people should be the source and origin of all political power. Therefore, all rulers should derive their power to rule directly from the people De Tocqueville, Direct popular election of DCEs will, therefore, underscore the theory of popular sovereignty or the belief that all power belongs to the people Jonah, In this sense, the existing legitimate order that gives power to the people at the local level is decentralisation; and if decentralisation is to give power to the local people, then they must directly choose who becomes their leader at the district level.
The second argument for the direct election of DCEs hinges on legitimacy. Legitimacy in modern political debate is understood usually less in terms of moral obligations and more in terms of political behaviour and beliefs Heywood, In other words, it addresses not the question of why people should obey the state, in an abstract sense, but a question of why they do obey a particular state or system of rule.
Political scientists usually see legitimacy in sociological terms: that is the willingness on the part of the people to comply with a system of government and the general belief on the part of the rulers and their people that those who rule are the right and proper people to rule Coicaud, It would appear therefore that unelected DCEs would not enjoy full legitimacy.
Legitimacy must be demonstrated by an expression of consent on the part of the governed Heywood, For instance, the legitimacy of the UK system of governance in was maintained through the recognition on the part of the public that, however unpopular policies and leaders might become, governments are elected to power and can be voted out.
According to Coicaud , this principle highlights two key features of the legitimation process. First is the existence of elections and party competition, a system through which popular consent can be exercised. The second is the existence of constitutional rules that broadly reflect how people feel they should be governed ibid.
The third argument for the direct election of DCEs is to ensure political accountability and responsibility. This means those who hold political office must be answerable for their conduct to those who put them in office Marshall, Since the President of Ghana appoints all DCEs, they are politically responsible and answerable to him. They can be used by the President to undertake actions that may run in direct conflict with the wishes of the majority of the people in a locality.
This is a direct antithesis on the principle of democratic decentralisation, which seeks to give power to the people and make rulers downwardly accountable to the ruled. Opponents of direct election of DCEs argue that since it is the people who elected the President, his appointees are indirect choices of the people. DCEs are also used during national election campaigns in Ghana by the president to aggressively campaign for aspiring members of Parliament from the ruling party and the presidential candidate of that party.
This aggressive campaign is often linked to inauguration of development project and related activities directly financed or controlled by the government of the day. In other words administrative decentralisation alone does not seem to have advanced the cause of local governance in Ghana Ayee, , p. Further, as demonstrated in late , the removal of a dozen DCEs from their posts, which was aired in the local press before these DCEs were formally notified, exemplified the arbitrary and non-democratic nature of the current system of appointment of DCEs by the President of the Republic.
Stephen Asamoah Boateng, during his parliamentary vetting in May From the foregoing, it can be argued that the non-partisanship of DCEs is out of place and incongruous with the partisan environment within which they are supposed to work. It is an open secret that in the district assembly elections of , , and , most, if not all, political parties either sponsored or supported individual candidates to win seats in the DAs in sharp contrast with the provisions of the Constitution Ayee, This is because the parties wanted to control the grassroots in order to boost their chances of winning national elections.
However, since this is unofficial and did not involve the public, the mobilising role parties can play did not occur formally. The Case against Direct Election of DCEs Whilst acknowledging the theoretical validity of the arguments for direct popular election of DCEs, Jonah3 has noted that the savagery with which partisan elections and campaigns are often conducted may discourage able individuals from standing for office as DCEs and thus deprive the district of their services.
Again, in a country such as Ghana, it is contended that a dangerous conflict destructive of district development could erupt in different districts and regions when an elected DCE belongs to a party different from that of the sitting president.
In this case, co- operation between central government and district government would be weakened and development would suffer4. Central government grants-in-aid are only a small fraction of district resources. This is certainly not the case in Ghana where the vast majority of districts have been unable to generate funds for their local developments and have relied on government grants and subventions5.
However, the counter argument is that faster generation of funds for development in districts can occur when the constituents accept the responsibility to partially finance their developmental needs which comes about when they directly elect their DCEs and mayors.
Therefore, direct elections both at the national and district level should proceed gradually, cautiously and step by step6.
Political parties in Ghana remain divided over the issue. At a national symposium organised by The Institute of Economic Affairs, Accra in collaboration with all registered political parties in Ghana on Saturday, 7th of May in Sunyani, the Brong Ahafo Region, political parties took opposing positions on the matter7. Making a presentation on behalf of his party at the symposium, Mr. In order to preserve the unitary feature of the state and ensure the cohesion of the country.
The present system is fairly democratic as it allows the participation of the people who are part of the process of electing DCEs. The present constitutional arrangements allow for the mandate of a corrupt or non- performing DCEs to be revoked before the end of the four-year tenure of office.
This could easily happen should DCEs be elected. Under the National Development Planning System Act, , Act , the president, elected on a partisan basis, has to implement his development plans and programmes through the non-partisan district assembly, which does not necessarily owe allegiance to him.
He therefore requires a trusted political lieutenant who will be able to ensure that those plans and programmes are appropriately implemented. Chief Executive 4. Elected Member 4. The views of both groups were similar: elected members are responsible for governance and for setting policies for the local authority; and chief executives are responsible for administration of the local authority. Councillors trying to be managers instead of focussing on policy and strategy and chief executives and staff trying to develop policy.
Councillor's role is policy and communication. Chief executives implement the policies. Councillors tend to micro-manage - not strategic. Needs to be a 'board to chief executive' type relationship but depends on the skills set of councillors. Potential for difficulty … if the chief executive becomes too politically aligned with one political faction. While some have argued that the current mode of appointment ensures control over affairs at the grassroots by the central government, others have strongly kicked against it on the grounds that it does not comply with the tenets of democratic decentralization and therefore fails to give the masses the chance to adequately participate in the affairs of their locality.
Political parties themselves in Ghana remain divided on the debate. While some have supported the call for direct election of DCEs and mayors by the people at the grassroots, others strongly feel the status quo must be maintained. This paper examines both arguments and provides various recommendations for the direct election of DCEs and mayors that address concerns from different quarters in a manner that ensures effective decentralization and political stability.
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