Mr Backah Peter, aspiring Assembly Member for Kakiase Electoral Area, Mr Donhuno Denis also an Aspiring Assembly Member for Nakpal Electoral Area and Mr Dari Peter have urged Ghanaians to eschew apathetic attitudes towards the impending local government elections.
This, they noted, will help bring power to the doorsteps of every Ghanaian for accelerated socio-economic development of the country.
The three panelists, who spoke on Yagbon radio local program ” Jaanuor buur” on Saturday November 25, 2023, said it was unfortunate that people with potentials often seem to stay aloof during unit committee and assembly elections.
They said such apathetic and negative attitudes towards local governance did not only slow down the pace of development but also the loss of expertise and appealed to all communities in the especially in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, Bole and Wa- West Districts to get actively involved in the local government elections and elect deserving people to represent them at the various Unit Committee and District Assembly levels.
Local Government Elections in Ghana are particularly poorly patronized by the Ghanaian voter population.
If voter turnout in the last three decades of local Government elections in Ghana is anything to go by, then it is safe to predict that, less than 35% of the voter population will turnout for this year’s (2023) elections if nothing is done to change the trajectory.
Despite the importance of the local governance system to any democratic dispensation, historical trends and predictive analysis conducted on voter turnout since 1988/89 point to the gross indifference of the ordinary Ghanaian voter.
Ghana’s Local Government Elections are characterized by high levels of apathy.
The records show that, participation in the local government elections that followed the 1989 elections has declined so much to the worry of many local governance experts.
Only the 1988/89 elections are on record to have registered the highest voter turnout to date.
Since the inception of the local government elections, average voter turnout is 38% with probably the lowest being the 29.3% recorded in 1994.
The December 2019 elections were not different in terms of voter turnout as the Electoral Commission, and the media have all recounted the low numbers recorded and have since called for national attention to help contribute to increasing voter turnout.
