Ms Felicia Dapaah (right), the Municipal Co-ordinating Director and acting Presiding Member of Ga West Municipality, addressing the assembly members. To her right is Mr Sam Atukwei Quaye, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Ga West.

Ga-West Assembly fails to elect Presiding Member again

Yakubu Abdul-Jalil Politics Oct - 22 - 2015 , 05:56

The Ga-West Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region is likely to face setbacks in implementing its development policies since it has failed for the second time to elect a Presiding Member (PM).

Article 244 (3a) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana mandates every metropolitan, municipal and district assembly to have a PM who shall preside over its meetings.
Clause (2) of the same article states that to be endorsed as a PM, candidate(s) must obtain at least two-thirds of the votes cast by the electorate.

The Ga-West Assembly members could, however, not arrive at a decision when the house exercised its franchise at Amasaman, near Accra, last Tuesday to elect a PM.

Absence of PM

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Sam Atukwei Quaye, said the assembly’s inability to elect a PM could inhibit the progress of work of his administration, adding that the contribution of members would be needed to facilitate the assembly’s fiscal policies.

“Their decision, however,signifies the level of democratic practice at the local government,’’ he said.
Mr Quaye said his outfit had put up pragmatic measures to ensure its development agenda in the municipality was on course.

Election

The contestants for the PM seat were the Chief of Ofankor and a government appointee, Nii Kortey Boi II, and the Assemblyman for the Amasaman Electoral Area, Love Alister.

The District Electoral Officer of Ga-West, Nana Oduro Nimapau, said neither of the contestants had two-thirds of the votes cast, hence the vacant PM seat in the Ga-West municipality.