The Branch Secretary of New Patriotic Party (NPP) Germany, Akwasi Opoku Edusei, has been nominated to contest on the ticket of Germany’s ruling party, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to become a member of the Municipal Parliament(MP) of the German city of Mannheim.
This will be the first time a Ghanaian in Germany will make such an attempt. Mr Edusei has been the secretary of NPP Germany for the past six years. With his rich experience in politics, it is expected that he will be able to win the contest on the ticket of the SPD, especially because the city was an SPD-controlled city until 2023.
Mr. Edusei has been a card-bearing member of the SPD for over two decades (24 years), and has participated in the party’s activities for a long time. It is therefore not surprising that he has been nominated to contest on the ticket of the party.
Mannheim is a city with about 330,000 inhabitants, and lies on the bank of the Rhine River, in the Baden Wuttemberg region of Germany. For five decades, the SPD administered the city until 2023, when the CDU won the city election known in German as “Oberbürgermeister”.
Speaking to some Ghanaians in Germany, they expressed delight about the prospects of Mr. Edusei saying, “We are really happy that a Ghanaian is making such an important move”, a Ghanaian living in Stuttgart said. Another person said, when successful, Mr. Edusei’s victory “will be shared by all Ghanaians in and outside Germany.”
A member of NPP Germany and the Director of Research of the Branch, Dr. Jacob Sarfo who also works as Consultant in Germany expressed optimism that the Branch Secretary is going to win. “The Branch is very proud of him. This goes to show that NPP has quality materials on all fronts”, Dr Sarfo delightfully expressed.
Below are details surrounding the position Mr Edusei is contesting for:
The municipal council is the representative of the citizens in Mannheim and the main body of the municipality. It sets down the principles for the administration of the municipality and decides on all matters of the municipality. The municipal council consists of the mayor as chairman and 48 city councillors.
The city councillors are elected by the population for a term of five years. This year’s election will be held on June 9, 2024, alongside the European elections.
Who can vote?
Eligible to vote in the Municipal Council elections is someone who:
-has German citizenship or that of an EU member state,
-has reached the age of 16,
-has lived in Mannheim for at least three months (exceptions see below),
-is not excluded from the right to vote and
-is registered in the voters’ register or has a voting slip.
Municipal Council Committees
The multitude of issues that the local council has to deal with in a large city cannot be managed without the supportive work in the council committees. Of the ten committees set up in Mannheim, they include the Committee for the Environment and Technology, the Youth Welfare Committee, the Committee for Education and Health and the Committee for Economics, Labor, and Social Affairs. As can be seen from the name, each committee is dedicated to a specific topic or area of responsibility. Most committees are made up of 12 city councillors. The personnel composition reflects the strength of the parties and groups represented in the Council.
Knowledgeable residents can also be appointed as members of these committees. These are intended to give further impetus to the committee’s work in an advisory capacity. The chairman of the committee meetings is the mayor or the responsible mayor.
