Alhaji Issahaku Tahiru Moomin, the Wa Municipal Chief Executive, has appealed to voters in the Municipality to vote "Yes" in the upcoming referendum to enable people contest elections at the local level on partisan basis.
He made the appeal at a public forum organized by the Assembly in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Service Department in Wa.
The event was held under the theme: "Issues Relating to 2019 Referendum".
Alhaji Isshaku said the benefits of voting yes in the December referendum outweighs the disadvantages and entreated residents to vote 'yes' so that government can realize its goal of amending Article 55 Clause 3 of the 1992 Constitution to allow people to contest for Assembly and Unit Committee elections on party tickets.
He said government has already tasked Parliament to amend Article 55 Clause 3 of the 1992 Constitution to allow election of MMDCEs and that if people vote yes in the referendum it will offer the opportunity for the assembly and unit committee elections to be politicized.
He said the process would also allow the election of MMDCEs on partisan lines, which meant that the power for one to become a district chief executive will be vested in the hands of the people but not the President as it is in this current dispensation.
"People are mis-informed about the upcoming referendum that the purpose is to afford us the opportunity to elect MMDCEs, which is not the case, the amendment of Article 55 Clause 3 of the 1992 Constitution has nothing to do with the referendum if we vote 'YES' or 'NO' but the referendum is to allow us as citizens to decide whether we want our assembly election to be based on partisan lines or not", he said.
Participants raised concerns about low publicity of the referendum and called on the NCCE and other stake holders to organize more of such forums across communities within the Wa municipality to educate them on the December 17 referendum.
The programme was attended by chiefs, religious bodies, youth groups, political parties, market women, transport unions, civil society organisations and other identifiable groups within the Wa Municipality.