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Human Right Lawyer, Martin Luther Kpebu has commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his bold decision to relinquish the power given to him by the 1992 Constitution to appoint Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs).

According to him, the political will of the President to let go of that power to appoint the MMDCEs is worthy of praise in spite of the backlash from some section of Ghanaians including the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

"The President has done well for which we have to commend him for the fact that he has instructed that there should be an amendment of the law so that he will no longer be empowered to appoint MMDCEs. To be honest, his good gesture deserves commendation; he has done well in that regard and we must praise him for that," he urged.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, lawyer Martin Kpebu, however, pleaded with the President to cancel the referendum and rather tackle the issues one after the other till it gets to a point where all Ghanaians can confidently call for the elections in the local level.

"The fact that the President has asked that we elect the MMDCEs, it is a good thing that we must commend him for; that act alone is worthy of praise . . . we must hold on to that at the moment and then later, we can think of what to add,” he suggested.

To him, the use of Article 24(8), stopping politicians from getting involved in the local election has a historical background wherein 1922, the attempt to conduct election to select the Accra Mayor turned bloody and chaotic in the country; hence, the law to ban politicians from getting involved in election at the local level.

He called for patience in the attempt by the Akufo-Addo government to amend the law to allow politicians to get involved in the local elections, even though all the political parties have agreed to amend the law in Article 24 (3) to take the power appointing MMDCEs from the President.

“The Parliamentarians should vote to amend the law on the appointment of MMDCEs from the President so that we elect the MMDCEs; let’s start with that and then after some time when we are able to solve the national problem of corruption, bribery, vigilantism involving our elections, then we look at the local government and allow the parties to participate, but for now, it is not good for us; we should not allow them to get involved,” he cautioned.