KMA fights over PM again
For the second time in less than six months, some members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) have engaged in a brawl after they had failed to elect a presiding member (PM) for the fifth time.
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At an assembly meeting in Kumasi yesterday, the Adumhene, Nana Baffour Agyei Kesse, who is a government appointee, stepped down, leaving Nana Kofi Senya, the Assembly Member for Suame, to contest the position unopposed.
Nana Kesse explained that he was stepping down in the interest of peace and to ensure the development of Kumasi which had stalled for almost a year.
Even after Nana Kesse had stepped down, Nana Senya was required to obtain the approval of the assembly to become the PM.
No PM
However, after the voting, Nana Senya failed to secure 98 of the total votes cast to become the PM.
Sixty-two members endorsed Nana Senya’s nomination, while 65 others voted against him.
Apparently frustrated by the turn of events, the Asawase Constituency Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Yakubu Tony Aidoo, is said to have described some of the assembly members as selfish, as, by their actions, they were stalling the development of Kumasi.
That comment by Mr Aidoo infuriated some of the assembly members, who reacted swiftly by throwing hefty punches at him.
Mr Aidoo’s supporters too reacted, leading to a free-for-all.
Crunch meeting
It took the intervention of some of Mr Aidoo’s loyal friends to save the outspoken NDC member from further beating.
In a fresh effort to break the deadlock initiated by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Alexander Ackon, who doubles as the Chief Executive of the KMA, the members went into a late session yesterday to conduct another round of election to pick a new PM.
At the end of voting, none of the four contestants — Messrs Abraham Boadi, Michael Adusei Bonsu, Obeng Poku and Salifu Muslim — secured the two-thirds majority to become the PM.
Mr Boadi secured 65 votes, Bonsu garnered 59, Poku obtained two, while Salifu had zero.
The assembly had earlier agreed on a compromised position to give the position to the winner by a simple majority, but others, mainly the government appointees, thought by so doing the assembly would breach the 1992 Constitution which insists on two-thirds majority.
Mr Ackon asked the two factions to meet and find a common ground to end the stalemate, which has run for 11 months.
Following the minister’s advice, the assembly agreed to reschedule the next election for Friday.
