By Clement Akoloh
Accra, August 27, 2026 — Minister-designate for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, has cautioned that electing District Chief Executives (DCEs) without first clearly defining their executive powers could create conflicts between locally elected authorities and the President.
Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee for his vetting, Mr. Ayariga said the debate over the election of DCEs must go beyond the question of whether they should be appointed or elected, stressing the need to establish clear spheres of executive authority between the central government and local authorities.
“Who is also exercising executive powers in a particular given location? Are you likely to be triggering a conflict between the person elected by the whole country to exercise executive authority and the person elected in a district to also exercise executive authority? Who becomes accountable?” he asked.
According to him, the issue represents a fundamental structural challenge that must be addressed if Ghana is to deepen decentralisation without creating competing centres of executive authority.
US federal-state model
Mr. Ayariga cited the United States federal system as an example of how clearly defined spheres of executive authority can help prevent conflicts between different levels of government.
He explained that the US federal government exercises authority over specific areas, including defence, foreign policy, international relations and interstate commerce, while significant powers are left to the individual states.
“So you have defined specific areas of executive power that is reserved to the federal government. Every other power is left to the state,” he explained.
He said the arrangement allows state governors to exercise authority within clearly defined areas without interfering with the functions of the federal government.
Mr. Ayariga pointed to law enforcement as an example, noting that states and cities have their own police structures operating within defined jurisdictions, while federal law enforcement agencies deal with matters falling under federal authority.
“If we actually as a country try to rather define the spheres of executive power and assign what executive power we think should be performed by local government, and therefore we are electing a DCE and he has that executive power, in respect to who is President and what executive power is for a President… then the citizens know who to hold accountable for what,” he said.
Avoiding competing mandates
The Minister-designate argued that the absence of clearly defined responsibilities could undermine the effectiveness of an elected DCE system by creating competing mandates between the President and local government executives.
He said once the spheres of influence are clearly established, the argument that a President must have a DCE who is politically reliable would become less significant.
“If we have defined the spheres of influence, you can’t be saying that you want the DCE that is reliable because your sphere of influence is there and then the DCE says his sphere of influence is also there,” he noted.
Mr. Ayariga also cited the United Kingdom, where he said local authorities constitute an important part of the country’s governance structure, with responsibilities exercised at different levels.
Balancing presidential and local accountability
On Ghana’s current system, Mr. Ayariga said the President is able to exercise significant influence over DCEs because they are nominated by the President, although they require approval by elected Assembly Members.
He suggested that the current arrangement creates a degree of presidential control while also involving locally elected representatives in the approval process.
He said the government’s recalibrated proposal seeks to strike a balance between the two positions.
“The proposal that was presented and which government looked at and recalibrated it and gave a position paper tries to meet each side halfway,” he told the Committee.
Under the proposed approach, he said, the President would retain the ability to work with the DCE because of the President’s role in the nomination process, while the DCE would also be made accountable to the entire electorate within the district.
Mr. Ayariga maintained that Ghana must therefore confront the deeper structural questions surrounding decentralisation before implementing reforms that could inadvertently create competing executive authorities at the national and local levels.
“These are deep fundamental structural issues that we need to think through,” he said.
Source: parliamentnews360.com
