District Level Elections: Voter Apathy to affect turnout

After several postponements, the 2023 District Level Elections (DLE) is scheduled to take place on December 19, 2023.

The DLE which was initially scheduled for October 3, 2023, was postponed due to the delay in passing of the Constitution Instrument (CI 91).

Section 6 of the Local Governance Act 2016 (Act 936) (as amended by Act 940) provides that District Level Elections shall be held every four (4) years and the interval between the DLE and the Parliamentary elections shall be at least six (6) months apart.

However, a sampling of Ghanaians shows a general apathy towards the upcoming national exercise.

When the RGG News visited Madina, Kwabenya, and Weija, constituents expressed their lack of interest whilst others did not know about the upcoming exercise.

A resident of Weija, Nii Okaitei Mensah said he would take part in Tuesday’s DLE as it was his civic duty.

He explained that the Assembly Members were key in ensuring the significant progress of developmental projects in the various communities.

“We need the Assembly Members to work in our communities so yes we need them,” he added.

At Madina, Mr. Andrew Yeboah said he will not take part in the upcoming DLE as the incumbent Assembly member in his area has been out of the country since his election.

“The incumbent Assembly Member, when he won the election, went to stay in the US but now that it’s time for election, he has come to campaign for reelection,” he said.

Also, another resident who gave her name as Patricia said she was unaware of the upcoming assembly and unit committee elections.

Mr Fred Martin, a resident of Kwabenya said he was disinterested in the election as the assembly members did not live up to expectation.

He said the Assembly Member of his area has not facilitated any development project for the area hence his lack of interest.

However, some Assembly members and unit committee aspirants believed that the general apathy towards the district-level elections was due to the lack of education on it and the absence of the involvement of political parties.

An Assembly Member Aspirant for the Abelemkpe Electoral Area Mr Kwesi Amoako Asante said the general lack of interest can be attributed to the lack of involvement by the rich and powerful hence the need to actively involve them.

He explained that the less privileged were more focused on persons who could give them incentives than persons with influence who could effect significant change in their communities.

A Unit Committee aspirant for the Kuntunse electoral area, Mateenah Naa Djama Odoi was worried over the general lack of interest in the DLE as it was at the District Assembly and Unit Committee level that each constituent can be a part of the change that the country needs.

She said there ought to be significant public education on how to ensure adequate public interest in DLEs, adding that “we don’t need to do that only in an election year, but people need to know the importance of voting in general.”

Meanwhile, the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Dan Kwaku Botwe who spoke on Adom Fm’s Eko Sii Sen programme on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, and monitored by RGG News said his outfit expects a 50 per cent turnout in Tuesday’s national exercise.