Vice President of Policy Think-tank, IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil has called on “campaigners” in the December 17 referendum to stop pushing electorates to choose an option – “Yes” or “No”.
According to Mr Bentil the decision to accept or reject the amendment in local governance should be left to the electorate without being influenced by political actors.
“Whatever the outcome, it falls to our people at the local level to decide who they want at the ballot box, whether party candidate or independent”
Sharing his views on social media, he noted that the politicization of the referendum will negatively affect the outcome of the activity. He said, partisan interference in this particular decision making is unnecessary and should be kept at the national level.
“It is sad this exercise is being negatively politicized. There are things which are and should remain at national projects. No one loses or benefits from the votes”.
Mr Bentil advised there are other pressing national projects where political parties can direct their attention “such as constitutional review”. He added that, despite the relevance of multi-party democracy, some activities should be addressed with all neutrality as possible.
“We still have a number of national projects to deal with such as constitutional review. We should stop making it a pingpong politics parties and recognize as much as we believe in multi-party democracy and political parties are a useful part of that, there are times we have to go beyond the divide and what is in everyone’s interest”