Referendum results not a sign of who wins 2020 polls – Kwesi Jonah

Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Kwesi Jonah has said the outcome of the Referendum has no correlation with the 2020 general elections.

“It’s a delusive perception if one makes the referendum a measure of the outcome of the 2020 parliamentary and general elections. There is no relationship at all. The referendum is different from the 2020 elections.

Political Watchers say the December 17, 2019 Referendum is a shadow 2020 elections as the battle lines are drawn between the two major political parties (NPP, NDC) in the upcoming exercise.

President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo months ago urged his appointees to ensure the success of the referendum aimed at making the position of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Executive an elected one.

“It is going to look very bad if a manifesto commitment by the NPP administration within a year of going to the polls cannot be delivered on. We have to deliver on it.

“Otherwise our credibility will be very much at stake in 2020. And since all of us our position; from President and Chief Executives hinges on the victory of the NPP, we should be careful about jeopardizing the chances of the NPP in the elections ahead of us,” he said at a meeting with Chief Executives of some 27 Assemblies in the Ashanti region.

But in an interaction with host Kweku Owusu Adjei on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM, Dr. Kwesi Jonah argued that the conditions for the two exercises are so different in the sense that the referendum cannot be a major determinant of the parties’ chances in the 2020 elections.

Meanwhile, the NDC has said it supports the election of MMDCEs but the party does not back the proposed referendum to make the process partisan.

“Government may, therefore, place a Bill before Parliament setting out the modalities for the election for consideration. This is the primary interest of Ghanaians,” National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo said at a Press conference on Tuesday.

He added: “It has to be thought through very well. Unfortunately, the bill as it is now is fatally flawed and cannot form the basis for the referendum to amend Article 55 (3). It must be withdrawn. But if the government insists on making the Assemblies partisan, then a new bill must be drafted, re-gazetted and subjected to serious scrutiny by Ghanaians, unlike the surreptitious manner it has gone about the current Bill. It will also mean that the 6-month period required by the Constitution for the Bill to be gazetted will begin to run anew,” Mr Ofosu Ampofo stated.

But Dr. Kwesi Jonah said the NDC’s demands are too late in the day to be considered by the NPP government.

“Their issues are belated and the time is too short to satisfy all these,” he said.