The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it has agreed to campaign for a ‘No’ vote ahead of the December 17 referendum.
According to the largest opposition party, a ‘Yes’ vote as advocated by some Ghanaians, no less the President, will open district assemblies and unit committees to “the needless NDC-NPP polarization”.
This decision was taken at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting last Thursday.
Addressing journalists in Accra, National Chairman of the NDC Samuel Ofosu Ampofo said there are a number of pitfalls with Article 55 and the referendum will only create confusion since there was no intense public discussion prior to the decision to hold it.
“This is the problem Great Britain has had to grapple with since the Brexit referendum,” Mr Ofosu Ampofo said.
The position of the NDC comes in direct opposite to that of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
During his recent tour of the Volta Region, the president asked Ghanaians to vote ‘Yes’ in order to move closer to having metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) elected.
But the NDC said the president was spreading an untruth about the referendum, especially as the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) clarified the crux of the referendum.
“In fact, the NCCE should have called out the President for peddling misinformation and untruths,” the NDC National Chairman stressed.
He said if parties are allowed into the district level and unit committee elections, there will be party-backed projects and programmes such as ‘NDC Communal Labour Day’ and ‘NPP Communal Labour Day’ in villages particularly.
“We of the NDC believe that all our towns and villages should have one communal Labour Day, and one market and we can only achieve this by voting NO.”
He added that if the government wants MMDCEs to be elected, which the NDC also backs, there should be an amendment bill put before Parliament for a two-thirds majority.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana