Aspiring NDC National Vice Chairman Dr Edem Segbefia has positioned the Mahama administration’s local government and chieftaincy reforms as the fulcrum for grassroots mobilization and electoral consolidation, telling party faithful in the Upper West Region that development must now radiate from district assemblies and traditional authorities rather than from the capital.
Addressing NDC branch and constituency executives, Segbefia painted a stark pre-January portrait of institutional collapse. He said assemblies were insolvent, logistics were absent, planning was fragmented, and chieftaincy had been marginalized. Communities across the North East and Upper East, he argued, felt abandoned because the two institutions closest to citizens lacked financing, vehicles, and policy voice, resulting in stalled projects, poor accountability, and a vacuum in local economic drive.
He outlined a deliberate recalibration under President John Dramani Mahama anchored on what he termed “power to the people, authority with responsibility.” According to Segbefia, the District Assemblies Common Fund is now released promptly and tracked, enabling Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to execute without protracted delays. Assemblies in Upper East, North East and beyond are receiving vehicles, motorbikes and office equipment. Medium-term district plans are being aligned with community priorities such as feeder roads, markets, health posts and water points, while MMDCEs face performance assessments rather than ceremonial oversight.
Segbefia further stressed institutional dignity for traditional leadership. Traditional Councils and Houses of Chiefs are receiving administrative support for dispute resolution and record-keeping, and chiefs are being formally integrated into planning, land administration, sanitation and community mobilization. He urged the grassroots to convert these reforms into political capital: monitor projects at branch level, supply MMDCEs with lists of party artisans and suppliers, collaborate with chiefs on land for public facilities, and publish quarterly NDC delivery reports in every constituency. “When your Assembly has money, a vehicle, and a plan, projects start in your town, not only in Accra,” he stated.
The broader thesis is one of decentralization as both governance doctrine and party strategy. By restoring fiscal flows, logistical capacity and respect to local structures, Segbefia contended, the NDC can demonstrate tangible delivery, deepen peace in chieftaincy matters, and translate service provision into durable support. He concluded with a direct charge to comrades to carry the message into every branch and palace: that the party has returned resources to the district and dignity to chiefs, and that this is how local votes are forged into national victory.
Call or WhatsApp +233 20 2190 250 and share your story.
Author: Korkor Anumu
