Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, MMDCEs, are very important officials in the Ghanaian governance decentralisation and local governance establishment.
Their place in the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, and their functions are established in Chapter Twenty of the 1992 Constitution. MMDCEs provide political and administrative leadership.
In Article 243 under Chapter Twenty of the Constitution, it states that, “There shall be a District Chief Executive for every district who shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds majority of members of the Assembly present and voting the meeting.”
The term District Chief Executive in the Constitution refers to Metropolitan, Municipal or District Chief Executive.
The functions of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives are given under Article 243 of the Constitution and Section 20 of the Local Governance Act, 2016 — Act 936.
The District Chief Executive:
- Presides at meetings of the Executive Committee of the Assembly
- Is responsible for the day-to-day performance of the executive and administrative functions of the District
- Does supervision of Departments in the Assembly.
- Is the chief representative of the Central Government in the District.
Simply, these are are the functions of MMDCEs, as the Law provides.
As at the time of writing this post, a legal process has been started and is on-going for a change from the current practice where the president appoints MMDCEs to one where they are elected by their constituents or local electorates.
A Metropolitan Assembly has Metropolitan Chief Executive, MCE; a Municipal Assembly has Municipal Chief Executive, also MCE; a District Assembly has District Chief Executive. What is the role of the Chief Executive in a Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly?
A District Chief Executive comes into office by appointment by the president and approval by the Assembly by vote. But a Chief Executive shall cease to hold office at any time other than end of term of office when:
- A vote of no-confidence, supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all members of the Assembly is passed against him;
- Removal from office by the President, or
- Death — where an MMDCE dies in office
Those are the functions of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives. I hope you find this post useful.