Naagyei 90.3 Fm Agyapa
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is scheduled to address the nation on the upcoming December 17 Referendum tonight.
The address which will take place at 8 pm Sunday will be live on all major TV stations as well as the President’s official Facebook page (NAkufoAddo).
Almost a week ago the Deputy Minister of Information, Pius Hadzide hinted that the President will take a final decision on the impending referendum soon.
The December 17 referendum seeks to amend Article 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution to enable Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and unit committee members to be elected along political party lines.
The provision can only be amended through a Referendum which per Article 290(4) of the 1992 constitution, can be approved when at least 40% of persons entitled to vote, vote at the Referendum and at least 75% of the persons who vote cast their ballot, vote in favour of passing the bill.
The opposition National Democratic Congress, which is campaigning for a ‘NO’ vote appears to have done a good job convincing the citizenry leaving many raising issues over the possibility of 75% of prospective voters voting ‘yes’ on the election day.
While some individuals, including bigwigs of the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP), have called for a postponement of the exercise to allow for broader stakeholder engagement to resolve the issues that have been raised by the opposition, others including the Minister for Regional Reorganisation and Development, Mr Dan Botwe has called for the withdrawal of the exercise for it to be organized alongside any future general election.
The President’s address tonight is expected to end the suspense as to whether the exercise will be held as planned or not.
