Assembly members in Central Region unpredictable
The approval of the President’s nominations for the positions of chief executives for the metro, municipal and district assemblies in the Central Region was greeted with blues as assembly members, both government appointees and elected keep on vacillating with their votes.
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In a classical manner, while some nominees received the nod others went through storm and turbulence when they faced the motley of assembly members with different orientation and backgrounds.
While there were jubilations, there were also disappointments on the faces of some government functionaries, National Democratic (NDC) party executives and supporters as well as relatives, friends and sympathisers, who turned out to support their favourites.
Before the President had announced the nominations some sections of the people in some districts embarked on demonstrations and issuing of press statements against some serving chief executives citing non-performance and lack of trust, and confidence in the DCEs.
In an election at Winneba for the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Effutu, contrary to the clamour against Nii Ephraim, he surprised political pundits when he sailed through with ease.
The Mfantseman Municipal Executive, Mr Benjamin Kweku Hayfron, who was not spared of the jig-saw, also pulled a surprise to retain his position as MCE
For the Ati-Mokwaa District, Mr Bossman Osei Hyiaman sailed through to take over from Mr Foster Andoh, who contested the Hemang-Lower Denkyira parliamentary seat and won.
At Hemang-Lower Denkyira, which was characterised by a stiff opposition to the siting of the district headquarters at Hemang, a section of the people took the matter to court and even boycotted the inauguration of the newly created district.
Matters got to a head when the people again opposed the nomination of Mr Sakyi but sanity prevailed and he was given the nod.
Events, however, took a sour turn when members of the Assin North Municipal Assembly rejected the incumbent, Mr Antwi-Boasiako.
In response to the shock, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development revoked the membership of all the 11-member government appointees of the assembly.
A new nomination is yet to be announced for consideration.
Mrs Sabina Appiah-Kubi after losing in the parliamentary election for Assin South was seemingly compensated with her re-nomination but escaped the butcher’s knife when she scaled through the 50 per cent threshhold and, therefore, stood the chance of another confirmation.
Mrs Appiah-Kubi was rejected during the second round of voting after the 10 days period.
More blues were to follow when in two separate meetings for approval on a Friday, both members of the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa and the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam district assemblies woefully failed to confirm their respective nominees in the persons of Messrs Samuel Adom Botchway and Light Koomson respectively.
Fortunately for the two, they were three votes short of the mark and placed on the injured list of 10 days within which to recover and had since been given the approval at their second chances after the government appointees in their respective assemblies had been replaced.
The nominee for the newly created Ekumfi District was not spared the rod when he was also in the cooler for 10 days before he finally got the approval.
While nominees are yet to be named for the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Upper Denkyira East and Ewutu Senya East, those at AAK, KEEA, Ewutu Senya and Agona East, Agona West and Gomoa East, have been spared the bashing, because they are yet to serve out their four-year terms.
The latest casualty is the nominee for the Upper Denkyira West, Mr Ackah Yankey, who failed in his second bid when he polled 14 votes with nine against his nomination, prompting his rejection by the 23 assembly members even though the membership of the six out of the seven appointees had been revoked and replaced with new ones.
Rumours making the rounds about the rejection of Messrs Antwi-Boasiako, Ackah Yankey and Mrs Appiah-Kubi are that since they contested the 2012 Parliamentary elections in their respective constituencies and lost to their New Patriotic Party counterparts, they might contest the seats again in the 2016 elections and exploit their incumbencies to annex the seats.
By Joe Okyere/Daily Graphic/Ghana
