Nana Addo makes first MMDCE appointment

• Mr Amoah was acting as the DCE until the president’s elevation

• The president had assured that issues surrounding the delayed appointment of MMDCEs will be resolved before the end of the month

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has elevated Mr Yawson Amoah, former District Chief Executive of Sehwi Akontombra from current acting DCE to substantive DCE.

The appointment of Mr Amoah by the President comes barely 24 hours after the president in a radio interview assured that issues surrounding the appointment of substantive Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) will be resolved before the end of this month.

According to a Daily Guide report sighted by GhanaWeb, the president announced the confirmation of Mr Amoah following an appeal made by the Chief of Sehwi Akontombra, Nana Kwabena Bioh II.

The chief appealed for the retention of the DCE when the president paid a courtesy call on him during his tour of the Western Region.

The president, despite nearing the end of the first year of his second term, is yet to name substantive MMDCEs, a situation that has caused some Ghanaians to express misgivings.

But speaking to Skyypower FM, the president allayed the concerns indicating that the delay in naming his representatives at the local government level has not created a vacuum.

“They (MMDCEs) are there already. The impression is being given that there are no MMDCEs in the system, it is false. All the people who were MMDCEs in my first term are still at post.

“I instructed the Chief of Staff who is the administrator of all of these people to extend their tenure in an acting capacity because the President has that power in the constitution. If there is that vacancy, people can act to fill that vacancy pending the appointment of substantive officeholders. So there is no vacuum in local government in Ghana as we speak today,” he said.

The president further stated that he had originally hoped that plans to amend the constitution to give room for the election of MMDCEs by citizens, would have materialized to give the appointing power to Ghanaians.

He thus indicated that his government will ensure the legislation is made in his final term to ensure the election of MMDCEs at the local level.