A constitutional lawyer, Mr John Ndebugri has said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cannot "arrest" the process which has been initiated for the December 17, 2019 referendum.

According to him, there is no provision in the constitution that allows the President to abort the process which has already been set in motion.

The referendum is to decide on the amendment of Article 55(3) of the 1992 Constitution on whether or not political parties should be allowed to sponsor candidates in local level elections.

"The election [referendum] is due to be held and it should be held," Mr Ndebugri said in a radio interview with Accra based Class FM on Tuesday evening [November 26, 2019].

"I actually don't see the need to withdraw, it is too late," he said.

"The law is very clear, the process has been set in motion and we must go ahead in accordance with the law," he added.

Mr Ndebugri said those advocating for the referendum to be halted are acting on ignorance.

His call is similar to an earlier one by the Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who has also stated that President Akufo-Addo has no power to pull the plug and halt the upcoming referendum.

Following the break down of consensus for a YES vote in the upcoming referendum, there have been calls for the referendum to be halted by withdrawing it or postponing it.

Some have argued that they prefer a 'NO' vote since it will not be prudent to allow partisanship at local level elections whilst others have also said there is the need for more public sensitisation since the education on the referendum has not really gone down.

Some have also said a postponement and organising a separate election just for the referendum would be costly.

They would rather prefer that it should be considered in 2023, the next time Ghana would hold district-level elections but there are those who also think that it should be allowed to go ahead for the public to vote on it.

There have been indications that President Akufo-Addo will make a pronouncement this week when he returns from his trip to the United Kingdom.

Whilst the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been campaigning for a 'YES' problem, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been campaigning for a 'NO' vote.