Our chiefs were fully consulted on ‘No vote’ position – House of Chiefs reacts

The National House of Chiefs has rejected claims by some chiefs that their position on the upcoming referendum on local level elections was not discussed with members.

Some prominent Chiefs including the Okyenhene and the Chairman of the Governance Committee of the National House of Chiefs, Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi have said they were not consulted before the House declared support for a ‘no’ vote in the referendum.

“The Committee of the Whole House has not been informed or met on the matter in question. The Leadership of the various Regional House of Chiefs have not been informed or consulted,” the Okyenhene said in a statement.

However responding to the claims, the National House of Chiefs in a counterstatement said the House discussed the matter when the deputy minister local government first broached the matter with them.

The House of Chiefs in a statement Friday declared support for a ‘no’ vote in the upcming referendum on whether political parties should be involved in local polls.

The statement said: “the incidence of exclusiveness, the unhealthy politicization of all issues, the marginalization of citizens who do not belong to the ruling party. and the exclusion of skilled manpower on partisan grounds would be detrimental to development and good governance at thecal level.

“We want the citizenry to know that the referendum is meant to permit unbridled partisan politics into local government and so the merits of the proposed reform should be assessed on that basis. We strongly recommend its rejection by the citizens”.