Bishops of Ghana call for a revisit  of election of MMDCEs

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has called on the government, civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, chiefs, opinion leaders and the good people of Ghana to revisit the election of the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

The Conference said the election would make the MMDCEs accountable to the people at the grassroots.
“It will also promote participation, transparency, accountability and development in the districts”, the Conference noted.

The position of the Conference was contained in a Communique at the end of its Annual Plenary Assembly held in Sunyani in the Bono Region of Ghana from November 6 to 18, 2023.

The Plenary Assembly at the Catholic Diocesan Pastoral and Social Centre was under the theme: “Fostering the growth of the Catholic Church in Ghana through Collaborative Ministry”.

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The Conference said the theme was inspired by the decline in the percentage of the Catholic population since the year 2000 as well as the Synod on Synodality (2021-2024).

Most Reverend Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD, Vice President of the Conference delivered the Communique signed by Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, Catholic Bishop of Sunyani and President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

The Conference said the election of MMDCEs would enable the members of the community to take their destiny into their own hands.

“The myriads of developmental challenges confronting communities including galamsey, deforestation, environmental degradation, flooding, dissipation of public resources among others could be better addressed through efficient decentralization system”.

The Conference has also noted the destruction of the environment through illegal mining (galamsey).
The Bishops say they were still disturbed by the worsening environmental destruction, pollution of water bodies, and increased reports of babies born with deformities and kidney diseases resulting from ingesting and inhaling heavy metals in galamsey areas.

They said they were also also concerned about the introduction of the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2022, LI 2462, which seemingly allowed mining, even in globally significant biodiversity areas.

The Conference urged the government to take a critical look at this LI 2462, and as a matter of urgency, either amend or repeal it, in order to forestall the alarming trend of ecological destruction in the country.